Exodus 32:18

32:18 Moses ¹  said, “It is not the sound of those who shout for victory, ²  nor is it the sound of those who cry because they are overcome, ³  but the sound of singing ⁴  I hear.” ⁵ 

Ezra 3:11-13

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ⁶  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ⁷  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established. 3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ⁸  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ⁹  – were weeping loudly, ¹⁰  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. 3:13 People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly ¹¹  that the sound was heard a long way off.

Psalms 47:1

Psalm 47 ¹² 

For the music director; by the Korahites; a psalm.

47:1 All you nations, clap your hands!

Shout out to God in celebration! ¹³ 

[32:18]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[32:18]  ² tn Heb “the sound of the answering of might,” meaning it is not the sound of shouting in victory (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 418).

[32:18]  ³ tn Heb “the sound of the answering of weakness,” meaning the cry of the defeated (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 415).

[32:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “answering in song” (a play on the twofold meaning of the word).

[32:18]  ⁵ sn See A. Newman, “Compositional Analysis and Functional Ambiguity Equivalence: Translating Exodus 32, 17-18,” Babel 21 (1975): 29-35.

[3:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “great.”

[3:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[3:12]  ⁹ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

[3:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

[3:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a great shout.”

[47:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 47. In this hymn the covenant community praises the Lord as the exalted king of the earth who has given them victory over the nations and a land in which to live.

[47:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “Shout to God with [the] sound of a ringing cry!”