Deuteronomy 12:12

12:12 You shall rejoice in the presence of the Lord your God, along with your sons, daughters, male and female servants, and the Levites in your villages ¹  (since they have no allotment or inheritance with you). ² 

Deuteronomy 26:11

26:11 You will celebrate all the good things that the Lord your God has given you and your family, ³  along with the Levites and the resident foreigners among you.

Nehemiah 8:9-12

8:9 Then Nehemiah the governor, ⁴  Ezra the priestly scribe, ⁵  and the Levites who were imparting understanding to the people said to all of them, ⁶  “This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep.” For all the people had been weeping when they heard the words of the law. 8:10 He said to them, “Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. ⁷  Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

8:11 Then the Levites quieted all the people saying, “Be quiet, for this day is holy. Do not grieve.” 8:12 So all the people departed to eat and drink and to share their food ⁸  with others ⁹  and to enjoy tremendous joy, ¹⁰  for they had gained insight in the matters that had been made known to them.

Ecclesiastes 9:7

Life is Brief, so Cherish its Joys

9:7 Go, eat your food ¹¹  with joy,

and drink your wine with a happy heart,

because God has already approved your works.

Isaiah 12:1-6

12:1 At that time ¹²  you will say:

“I praise you, O Lord,

for even though you were angry with me,

your anger subsided, and you consoled me.

12:2 Look, God is my deliverer! ¹³ 

I will trust in him ¹⁴  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ¹⁵ 

he has become my deliverer.” ¹⁶ 

12:3 Joyfully you will draw water

from the springs of deliverance. ¹⁷ 

12:4 At that time ¹⁸  you will say:

“Praise the Lord!

Ask him for help! ¹⁹ 

Publicize his mighty acts among the nations!

Make it known that he is unique! ²⁰ 

12:5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done magnificent things,

let this be known ²¹  throughout the earth!

12:6 Cry out and shout for joy, O citizens of Zion,

for the Holy One of Israel ²²  acts mightily ²³  among you!”

Isaiah 25:6-8

25:6 The Lord who commands armies will hold a banquet for all the nations on this mountain. ²⁴ 

At this banquet there will be plenty of meat and aged wine –

tender meat and choicest wine. ²⁵ 

25:7 On this mountain he will swallow up

the shroud that is over all the peoples, ²⁶ 

the woven covering that is over all the nations; ²⁷ 

25:8 he will swallow up death permanently. ²⁸ 

The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face,

and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth.

Indeed, the Lord has announced it! ²⁹ 

Isaiah 30:29

30:29 You will sing

as you do in the evening when you are celebrating a festival.

You will be happy like one who plays a flute

as he goes to the mountain of the Lord, the Rock who shelters Israel. ³⁰ 

Isaiah 35:10

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ³¹ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ³² 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ³³  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ³⁴ 

Isaiah 35:1

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ³⁵ 

let the wilderness ³⁶  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Isaiah 5:16

5:16 The Lord who commands armies will be exalted ³⁷  when he punishes, ³⁸ 

the sovereign God’s authority will be recognized when he judges. ³⁹ 

[12:12]  ¹ tn Heb “within your gates” (so KJV, NASB); NAB “who belongs to your community.”

[12:12]  ² sn They have no allotment or inheritance with you. See note on the word “inheritance” in Deut 10:9.

[26:11]  ³ tn Or “household” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); Heb “house” (so KJV, NRSV).

[8:9]  ⁴ tc The unexpected reference to Nehemiah here has led some scholars to suspect that the phrase “Nehemiah the governor” is a later addition to the text and not original.

[8:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “the priest, the scribe.”

[8:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “the people.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy.

[8:10]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[8:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “to send portions.”

[8:12]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew text does not include the phrase “with others” but it has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to make great joy.”

[9:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “your bread.”

[12:1]  ¹² tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[12:2]  ¹³ tn Or “salvation” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[12:2]  ¹⁴ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew text has, “for my strength and protection [is] the Lord, the Lord (Heb “Yah, Yahweh).” The word יְהוָה (yehvah) is probably dittographic or explanatory here (note that the short form of the name [יָהּ, yah] precedes, and that the graphically similar וַיְהִי [vayÿhi] follows). Exod 15:2, the passage from which the words of v. 2b are taken, has only יָהּ. The word זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song,” in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing); note that in v. 5 the verb זָמַר (zamar, “sing”) appears. Many recent commentators, however, have argued that the noun is here instead a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v. III *זמר.

[12:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[12:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); CEV “victory.”

[12:4]  ¹⁸ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[12:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “call in his name,” i.e., “invoke his name.”

[12:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “bring to remembrance that his name is exalted.” The Lord’s “name” stands here for his character and reputation.

[12:5]  ²¹ tc The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), which is a Hophal participle from יָדַע (yada’), understood here in a gerundive sense.

[12:6]  ²² sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[12:6]  ²³ tn Or “is great” (TEV). However, the context emphasizes his mighty acts of deliverance (cf. NCV), not some general or vague character quality.

[25:6]  ²⁴ sn That is, Mount Zion (see 24:23); cf. TEV; NLT “In Jerusalem.”

[25:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “And the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will make for all the nations on this mountain a banquet of meats, a banquet of wine dregs, meats filled with marrow, dregs that are filtered.”

[25:7]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew text reads, “the face of the shroud, the shroud over all the nations.” Some emend the second הַלּוֹט (hallot) to a passive participle הַלּוּט (hallut, “that is wrapped”).

[25:7]  ²⁷ sn The point of the imagery is unclear. Perhaps the shroud/covering referred to was associated with death in some way (see v. 8).

[25:8]  ²⁸ sn The image of the Lord “swallowing” death would be especially powerful, for death was viewed in Canaanite mythology and culture as a hungry enemy that swallows its victims. See the note at 5:14.

[25:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “has spoken” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[30:29]  ³⁰ tn Heb “[you will have] joy of heart, like the one going with a flute to enter the mountain of the Lord to the Rock of Israel.” The image here is not a foundational rock, but a rocky cliff where people could hide for protection (for example, the fortress of Masada).

[35:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ³² tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[35:10]  ³³ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

[35:1]  ³⁵ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

[35:1]  ³⁶ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

[5:16]  ³⁷ tn Or “elevated”; TEV “the Lord Almighty shows his greatness.”

[5:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “by judgment/justice.” When God justly punishes the evildoers denounced in the preceding verses, he will be recognized as a mighty warrior.

[5:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “The holy God will be set apart by fairness.” In this context God’s holiness is his sovereign royal authority, which implies a commitment to justice (see the note on the phrase “the sovereign king of Israel” in 1:4). When God judges evildoers as they deserve, his sovereignty will be acknowledged.