Ezra 3:11

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ¹  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ²  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established.

Psalms 137:3-4

137:3 for there our captors ask us to compose songs; ³ 

those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: ⁴ 

“Sing for us a song about Zion!” ⁵ 

137:4 How can we sing a song to the Lord

in a foreign land?

[3:11]  ¹ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ² tn Heb “great.”

[137:3]  ³ tn Heb “ask us [for] the words of a song.”

[137:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “our [?] joy.” The derivation and meaning of the Hebrew phrase תוֹלָלֵינוּ (tolalenu, “our [?]”) are uncertain. A derivation from תָּלַל (talal, “to mock”) fits contextually, but this root occurs only in the Hiphil stem. For a discussion of various proposals, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 236.

[137:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “from a song of Zion.” Most modern translations read, “one of the songs of Zion,” taking the preposition מִן (min, “from”) as partitive and “song” as collective. The present translation assumes the mem (ם) is enclitic, being misunderstood later as the prefixed preposition.