Deuteronomy 30:9

30:9 The Lord your God will make the labor of your hands ¹  abundantly successful and multiply your children, ²  the offspring of your cattle, and the produce of your soil. For the Lord your God will once more ³  rejoice over you to make you prosperous ⁴  just as he rejoiced over your ancestors,

Isaiah 62:5

62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,

so your sons ⁵  will marry you.

As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,

so your God will rejoice over you.

Jeremiah 32:41

32:41 I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them ⁶  firmly in the land.’

Micah 7:18

7:18 There is no other God like you! ⁷ 

You ⁸  forgive sin

and pardon ⁹  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹⁰ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹¹ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

Zephaniah 3:17

3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ¹² 

he renews you by his love; ¹³ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ¹⁴ 

Luke 15:6-10

15:6 Returning ¹⁵  home, he calls together ¹⁶  his ¹⁷  friends and neighbors, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 15:7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner ¹⁸  who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people ¹⁹  who have no need to repent. ²⁰ 

15:8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins ²¹  and loses ²²  one of them, ²³  does not light a lamp, sweep ²⁴  the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it? 15:9 Then ²⁵  when she has found it, she calls together her ²⁶  friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice ²⁷  with me, for I have found the coin ²⁸  that I had lost.’ 15:10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels ²⁹  over one sinner who repents.”

Luke 15:23-24

15:23 Bring ³⁰  the fattened calf ³¹  and kill it! Let us eat ³²  and celebrate, 15:24 because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again – he was lost and is found!’ ³³  So ³⁴  they began to celebrate.

Luke 15:32

15:32 It was appropriate ³⁵  to celebrate and be glad, for your brother ³⁶  was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found.’” ³⁷ 

[30:9]  ¹ tc The MT reads “hand” (singular). Most versions read the plural.

[30:9]  ² tn Heb “the fruit of your womb” (so NAB, NIV); NRSV “of your body.”

[30:9]  ³ tn Heb “return and.” The Hebrew verb is used idiomatically here to indicate the repetition of the following action.

[30:9]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text includes “for good.”

[62:5]  ⁵ tc The Hebrew text has “your sons,” but this produces an odd metaphor and is somewhat incongruous with the parallelism. In the context (v. 4b, see also 54:5-7) the Lord is the one who “marries” Zion. Therefore several prefer to emend “your sons” to בֹּנָיִךְ (bonayikh, “your builder”; e.g., NRSV). In Ps 147:2 the Lord is called the “builder of Jerusalem.” However, this emendation is not the best option for at least four reasons. First, although the Lord is never called the “builder” of Jerusalem in Isaiah, the idea of Zion’s children possessing the land does occur (Isa 49:20; 54:3; cf. also 14:1; 60:21). Secondly, all the ancient versions support the MT reading. Thirdly, although the verb בָּעַל (ba’al) can mean “to marry,” its basic idea is “to possess.” Consequently, the verb stresses a relationship more than a state. All the ancient versions render this verb “to dwell in” or “to dwell with.” The point is not just that the land will be reinhabited, but that it will be in a relationship of “belonging” to the Israelites. Hence a relational verb like בָּעַל is used (J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah [NICOT], 2:581). Finally, “sons” is a well-known metaphor for “inhabitants” (J. de Waard, Isaiah, 208).

[32:41]  ⁶ tn Heb “will plant them in the land with faithfulness with all my heart and with all my soul.” The latter expressions are, of course, anthropomorphisms (see Deut 6:5).

[7:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[3:17]  ¹² tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ¹³ tc The MT reads, “he is silent in his love,” but this makes no sense in light of the immediately preceding and following lines. Some take the Hiphil verb form as causative (see Job 11:3) rather than intransitive and translate, “he causes [you] to be silent by his love,” that is, “he soothes [you] by his love.” The present translation follows the LXX and assumes an original reading יְחַדֵּשׁ (yÿkhaddesh, “he renews”) with ellipsis of the object (“you”).

[3:17]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”

[15:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “And coming into his…” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[15:6]  ¹⁶ sn A touch of drama may be present, as the term calls together can mean a formal celebration (1 Kgs 1:9-10).

[15:6]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215). It occurs before “neighbors” as well (“his friends and his neighbors”) but has not been translated the second time because of English style.

[15:7]  ¹⁸ sn There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. The pursuit of the sinner is a priority in spite of the presence of others who are doing well (see also Luke 5:32; 19:10). The theme of repentance, a major Lukan theme, is again emphasized.

[15:7]  ¹⁹ tn Here δικαίοις (dikaioi") is an adjective functioning substantivally and has been translated “righteous people.”

[15:7]  ²⁰ tn Or “who do not need to repent”; Grk “who do not have need of repentance.”

[15:8]  ²¹ sn This silver coin is a drachma, equal to a denarius, that is, a day’s pay for the average laborer.

[15:8]  ²² tn Grk “What woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses.” The initial participle ἔχουσα (ecousa) has been translated as a finite verb parallel to ἀπολέσῃ (apolesh) in the conditional clause to improve the English style.

[15:8]  ²³ tn Grk “one coin.”

[15:8]  ²⁴ tn Grk “and sweep,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.

[15:9]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[15:9]  ²⁶ tn Grk “the”; in context the article is used as a possessive pronoun (ExSyn 215).

[15:9]  ²⁷ sn Rejoice. Besides the theme of pursuing the lost, the other theme of the parable is the joy of finding them.

[15:9]  ²⁸ tn Grk “drachma.”

[15:10]  ²⁹ sn The whole of heaven is said to rejoice. Joy in the presence of God’s angels is a way of referring to God’s joy as well without having to name him explicitly. Contemporary Judaism tended to refer to God indirectly where possible out of reverence or respect for the divine name.

[15:23]  ³⁰ tn Grk “And bring.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style. Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

[15:23]  ³¹ tn Or “the prize calf” (L&N 65.8). See also L&N 44.2, “grain-fattened.” Such a calf was usually reserved for religious celebrations.

[15:23]  ³² tn The participle φαγόντες (fagontes) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[15:24]  ³³ sn This statement links the parable to the theme of 15:6, 9.

[15:24]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the result of the father’s remarks in the preceding verses.

[15:32]  ³⁵ tn Or “necessary.”

[15:32]  ³⁶ sn By referring to him as your brother, the father reminded the older brother that the younger brother was part of the family.

[15:32]  ³⁷ sn The theme he was lost and is found is repeated from v. 24. The conclusion is open-ended. The reader is left to ponder with the older son (who pictures the scribes and Pharisees) what the response will be. The parable does not reveal the ultimate response of the older brother. Jesus argued that sinners should be pursued and received back warmly when they returned.