Isaiah 12:1-6

12:1 At that time ¹  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! ² 

I will trust in him ³  and not fear.

For the Lord gives me strength and protects me; ⁴ 

he has become my deliverer.” ⁵ 

12:3 Joyfully you will draw water

from the springs of deliverance. ⁶ 

12:4 At that time ⁷  you will say:

“Praise the Lord!

Ask him for help! ⁸ 

Publicize his mighty acts among the nations!

Make it known that he is unique! ⁹ 

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

let this be known ¹⁰  throughout the earth!

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

for the Holy One of Israel ¹¹  acts mightily ¹²  among you!”

Isaiah 25:1

25:1 O Lord, you are my God! ¹³ 

I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. ¹⁴ 

For you have done extraordinary things,

and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. ¹⁵ 

Isaiah 26:1

Judah Will Celebrate

26:1 At that time ¹⁶  this song will be sung in the land of Judah:

“We have a strong city!

The Lord’s ¹⁷  deliverance, like walls and a rampart, makes it secure. ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 27:2

27:2 When that time comes, ¹⁹ 

sing about a delightful vineyard! ²⁰ 

Isaiah 35:2

35:2 Let it richly bloom; ²¹ 

let it rejoice and shout with delight! ²² 

It is given the grandeur ²³  of Lebanon,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the grandeur of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

Isaiah 35:10

35:10 those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. ²⁴ 

They will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ²⁵ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ²⁶  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ²⁷ 

Isaiah 40:9

40:9 Go up on a high mountain, O herald Zion!

Shout out loudly, O herald Jerusalem! ²⁸ 

Shout, don’t be afraid!

Say to the towns of Judah,

“Here is your God!”

Isaiah 42:10-12

42:10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!

Praise him ²⁹  from the horizon of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, ³⁰ 

you coastlands ³¹  and those who live there!

42:11 Let the desert and its cities shout out,

the towns where the nomads of Kedar live!

Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully;

let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

42:12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves; ³² 

let them praise his deeds in the coastlands. ³³ 

Isaiah 44:23

44:23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; ³⁴ 

shout out, you subterranean regions ³⁵  of the earth.

O mountains, give a joyful shout;

you too, O forest and all your trees! ³⁶ 

For the Lord protects ³⁷  Jacob;

he reveals his splendor through Israel. ³⁸ 

Isaiah 51:11

51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;

they will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ³⁹ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ⁴⁰  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ⁴¹ 

Isaiah 52:7-9

52:7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains ⁴² 

the feet of a messenger who announces peace,

a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ⁴³ 

52:8 Listen, ⁴⁴  your watchmen shout;

in unison they shout for joy,

for they see with their very own eyes ⁴⁵ 

the Lord’s return to Zion.

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects ⁴⁶  Jerusalem.

Isaiah 54:1

Zion Will Be Secure

54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!

Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!

For the children of the desolate one are more numerous

than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.

Jeremiah 30:19

30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ⁴⁷ 

and the sounds of laughter and merriment.

I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ⁴⁸ 

I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.

Jeremiah 31:12

31:12 They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion.

They will be radiant with joy ⁴⁹  over the good things the Lord provides,

the grain, the fresh wine, the olive oil,

the young sheep and calves he has given to them.

They will be like a well-watered garden

and will not grow faint or weary any more.

Jeremiah 33:11

33:11 Once again there will be sounds ⁵⁰  of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms. ⁵¹  Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the Lord and will say, “Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all. For the Lord is good and his unfailing love lasts forever.” ⁵²  For I, the Lord, affirm ⁵³  that I will restore the land to what it was ⁵⁴  in days of old.’ ⁵⁵ 

Zephaniah 3:14-20

3:14 Shout for joy, Daughter Zion! ⁵⁶ 

Shout out, Israel!

Be happy and boast with all your heart, Daughter Jerusalem!

3:15 The Lord has removed the judgment against you; ⁵⁷ 

he has turned back your enemy.

Israel’s king, the Lord, is in your midst!

You no longer need to fear disaster.

3:16 On that day they will say ⁵⁸  to Jerusalem,

“Don’t be afraid, Zion!

Your hands must not be paralyzed from panic! ⁵⁹ 

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

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ⁶⁰ 

he renews you by his love; ⁶¹ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ⁶² 

3:18 “As for those who grieve because they cannot attend the festivals –

I took them away from you;

they became tribute and were a source of shame to you. ⁶³ 

3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.

I will rescue the lame sheep ⁶⁴ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ⁶⁵ 

3:20 At that time I will lead you –

at the time I gather you together. ⁶⁶ 

Be sure of this! ⁶⁷  I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you ⁶⁸ 

when you see me restore you,” ⁶⁹  says the Lord.

Zechariah 2:10

2:10 “Sing out and be happy, Zion my daughter! ⁷⁰  For look, I have come; I will settle in your midst,” says the Lord.

[12:1]  ¹ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

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

[12:2]  ³ tn The words “in him” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[12:2]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NAB “my savior.”

[12:3]  ⁶ tn Or “salvation” (so many English versions, e.g., KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); CEV “victory.”

[12:4]  ⁷ tn Or “in that day” (KJV).

[12:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “call in his name,” i.e., “invoke his name.”

[12:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “bring to remembrance that his name is exalted.” The Lord’s “name” stands here for his character and reputation.

[12:5]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the marginal reading (Qere), which is a Hophal participle from יָדַע (yada’), understood here in a gerundive sense.

[12:6]  ¹¹ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

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

[25:1]  ¹³ sn The prophet speaks here as one who has observed the coming judgment of the proud.

[25:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “name.” See the note at 24:15.

[25:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “plans from long ago [in] faithfulness, trustworthiness.” The feminine noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness”) and masculine noun אֹמֶן (’omen, “trustworthiness”), both of which are derived from the root אָמַן (’aman), are juxtaposed to emphasize the basic idea conveyed by the synonyms. Here they describe the absolute reliability of the divine plans.

[26:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “In that day” (so KJV).

[26:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[26:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “deliverance he makes walls and a rampart.”

[27:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in that day” (so KJV).

[27:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “vineyard of delight,” or “vineyard of beauty.” Many medieval mss read כֶּרֶם חֶמֶר (kerem khemer, “vineyard of wine”), i.e., “a productive vineyard.”

[35:2]  ²¹ tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).

[35:2]  ²² tn Heb “and let it rejoice, yes [with] rejoicing and shouting.” גִּילַת (gilat) may be an archaic feminine nominal form (see GKC 421 §130.b).

[35:2]  ²³ tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse.

[35:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and the redeemed will walk, the ransomed of the Lord will return.”

[35:10]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will overtake” (NIV); NLT “they will be overcome with.”

[35:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee”; KJV “sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

[40:9]  ²⁸ tn The second feminine singular imperatives are addressed to personified Zion/Jerusalem, who is here told to ascend a high hill and proclaim the good news of the Lord’s return to the other towns of Judah. Isa 41:27 and 52:7 speak of a herald sent to Zion, but the masculine singular form מְבַשֵּׂר (mÿvaser) is used in these verses, in contrast to the feminine singular form מְבַשֶּׂרֶת (mÿvaseret) employed in 40:9, where Zion is addressed as a herald.

[42:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.

[42:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”

[42:10]  ³¹ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”

[42:12]  ³² tn Heb “Let them ascribe to the Lord glory.”

[42:12]  ³³ tn Heb “and his praise in the coastlands [or “islands”] let them declare.”

[44:23]  ³⁴ tn Heb “acts”; NASB, NRSV “has done it”; NLT “has done this wondrous thing.”

[44:23]  ³⁵ tn Heb “lower regions.” This refers to Sheol and forms a merism with “sky” in the previous line. See Pss 63:9; 71:20.

[44:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “O forest and all the trees in it”; NASB, NRSV “and every tree in it.”

[44:23]  ³⁷ tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[44:23]  ³⁸ tn That is, by delivering Israel. Cf. NCV “showed his glory when he saved Israel”; TEV “has shown his greatness by saving his people Israel.”

[51:11]  ³⁹ 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.

[51:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”

[51:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”

[52:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “How delightful on the mountains.”

[52:7]  ⁴³ tn Or “has become king.” When a new king was enthroned, his followers would give this shout. For other examples of this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3rd person masculine singular מָלַךְ [malakh], followed by the name of the king), see 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13. The Lord is an eternal king, but here he is pictured as a victorious warrior who establishes his rule from Zion.

[52:8]  ⁴⁴ tn קוֹל (qol, “voice”) is used at the beginning of the verse as an interjection.

[52:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “eye in eye”; KJV, ASV “eye to eye”; NAB “directly, before their eyes.”

[52:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[30:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”

[30:19]  ⁴⁸ sn Compare Jer 29:6.

[31:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Reading a Qal perfect from the root II נָהַר (nahar; so KBL 509 s.v. and HALOT 639 s.v.) rather than I נָהַר (so BDB 625 s.v.).

[33:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “33:10 Thus says the Lord, ‘There will again be heard in this place of which you are saying [masc. pl.], “It is a ruin without people and without animals,” [that is] in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate without people and without inhabitants and without animals 33:11 the sound of….” The long run-on sentence in Hebrew has been broken down to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:11]  ⁵¹ sn What is predicted here is a reversal of the decimation caused by the Babylonian conquest that had been threatened in 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.

[33:11]  ⁵² sn This is a common hymnic introduction to both individual songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 118:1) and communal songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 136 where it is a liturgical refrain accompanying a recital of Israel’s early history and of the Lord’s continuing providence).

[33:11]  ⁵³ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[33:11]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “I will restore the fortunes of the land.”

[33:11]  ⁵⁵ tn This phrase simply means “as formerly” (BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן 3.a). The reference to the “as formerly” must be established from the context. See the usage in Judg 20:32; 1 Kgs 13:6; Isa 1:26.

[3:14]  ⁵⁶ sn This phrase is used as an epithet for the city and the nation. “Daughter” may seem extraneous in English but consciously joins the various epithets and metaphors of Israel and Jerusalem as a woman, a device used to evoke sympathy from the reader.

[3:15]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “your judgments,” that is, “the judgments directed against you.” The translation reflects the implications of the parallelism.

[3:16]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “it will be said.” The passive construction has been translated as active for stylistic reasons.

[3:16]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “your hands must not go limp.”

[3:17]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ⁶¹ 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]  ⁶² tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”

[3:18]  ⁶³ tn Heb “The ones grieving from an assembly I gathered from you they were, tribute upon her, a reproach.” Any translation of this difficult verse must be provisional at best. The present translation assumes three things: (1) The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “assembly” is causal (the individuals are sorrowing because of the assemblies or festivals they are no longer able to hold). (2) מַשְׂאֵת (mas’et) means “tribute” and refers to the exiled people being treated as the spoils of warfare (see R. D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah [WEC], 385-86). (3) The third feminine singular suffix refers to personified Jerusalem, which is addressed earlier in the verse (the pronominal suffix in “from you” is second feminine singular). For other interpretive options see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 146.

[3:19]  ⁶⁴ tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.

[3:19]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.

[3:20]  ⁶⁶ tn In this line the second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that the exiles are addressed.

[3:20]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “for.”

[3:20]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “I will make you into a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth.” Here the word “name” carries the nuance of “good reputation.”

[3:20]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “when I restore your fortunes to your eyes.” See the note on the phrase “restore them” in 2:7.

[2:10]  ⁷⁰ sn This individualizing of Zion as a daughter draws attention to the corporate nature of the covenant community and also to the tenderness with which the Lord regards his chosen people.