Isaiah 49:18

49:18 Look all around you! ¹ 

All of them gather to you.

As surely as I live,” says the Lord,

“you will certainly wear all of them like jewelry;

you will put them on as if you were a bride.

Psalms 45:8-9

45:8 All your garments are perfumed with ²  myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

From the luxurious palaces ³  comes the music of stringed instruments that makes you happy. ⁴ 

45:9 Princesses ⁵  are among your honored guests, ⁶ 

your bride ⁷  stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir. ⁸ 

Psalms 45:13-14

45:13 The princess ⁹  looks absolutely magnificent, ¹⁰ 

decked out in pearls and clothed in a brocade trimmed with gold. ¹¹ 

45:14 In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king.

Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her,

are led before you. ¹² 

Jeremiah 2:32

2:32 Does a young woman forget to put on her jewels?

Does a bride forget to put on her bridal attire?

But my people have forgotten me

for more days than can even be counted.

Ezekiel 16:8-16

16:8 “‘Then I passed by you and watched you, noticing ¹³  that you had reached the age for love. ¹⁴  I spread my cloak ¹⁵  over you and covered your nakedness. I swore a solemn oath to you and entered into a marriage covenant with you, declares the sovereign Lord, and you became mine.

16:9 “‘Then I bathed you in water, washed the blood off you, and anointed you with fragrant oil. 16:10 I dressed you in embroidered clothing and put fine leather sandals on your feet. I wrapped you with fine linen and covered you with silk. 16:11 I adorned you with jewelry. I put bracelets on your hands and a necklace around your neck. 16:12 I put a ring in your nose, earrings on your ears, and a beautiful crown on your head. 16:13 You were adorned with gold and silver, while your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidery. You ate the finest flour, honey, and olive oil. You became extremely beautiful and attained the position of royalty. 16:14 Your fame ¹⁶  spread among the nations because of your beauty; your beauty was perfect because of the splendor which I bestowed on you, declares the sovereign Lord. ¹⁷ 

16:15 “‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ¹⁸  became his. 16:16 You took some of your clothing and made for yourself decorated high places; you engaged in prostitution on them. You went to him to become his. ¹⁹ 

Revelation 19:7-8

19:7 Let us rejoice ²⁰  and exult

and give him glory,

because the wedding celebration of the Lamb has come,

and his bride has made herself ready.

19:8 She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” ²¹  (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). ²² 

Revelation 21:2

21:2 And I saw the holy city – the new Jerusalem – descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 21:9

The New Jerusalem Descends

21:9 Then ²³  one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, ²⁴  saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!”

[49:18]  ¹ tn Heb “Lift up around your eyes and see.”

[45:8]  ² tn The words “perfumed with” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[45:8]  ³ tn Heb “the palaces of ivory.” The phrase “palaces of ivory” refers to palaces that had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. Such decoration with ivory was characteristic of a high level of luxury. See 1 Kgs 22:39 and Amos 3:15.

[45:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the palaces of ivory stringed instrument[s] make you happy.”

[45:9]  ³ tn Heb “daughters of kings.”

[45:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “valuable ones.” The form is feminine plural.

[45:9]  ⁵ tn This rare Hebrew noun apparently refers to the king’s bride, who will soon be queen (see Neh 2:6). The Aramaic cognate is used of royal wives in Dan 5:2-3, 23.

[45:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “a consort stands at your right hand, gold of Ophir.”

[45:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “[the] daughter of a king.”

[45:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “[is] completely glorious.”

[45:13]  ⁶ tc Heb “within, from settings of gold, her clothing.” The Hebrew term פְּנִימָה (pÿnimah, “within”), if retained, would go with the preceding line and perhaps refer to the bride being “within” the palace or her bridal chamber (cf. NIV, NRSV). Since the next two lines refer to her attire (see also v. 9b), it is preferable to emend the form to פְּנִינִיהָּ (“her pearls”) or to פְּנִינִים (“pearls”). The mem (מ) prefixed to “settings” is probably dittographic.

[45:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “virgins after her, her companions, are led to you.” Some emend לָךְ (lakh, “to you”) to לָהּ (lah, “to her,” i.e., the princess), because the princess is now being spoken of in the third person (vv. 13-14a), rather than being addressed directly (as in vv. 10-12). However, the ambiguous suffixed form לָךְ need not be taken as second feminine singular. The suffix can be understood as a pausal second masculine singular form, addressed to the king. The translation assumes this to be the case; note that the king is addressed once more in vv. 16-17, where the second person pronouns are masculine.

[16:8]  ⁶ tn The word הִנֵּה (hinneh, traditionally “behold”) indicates becoming aware of something and has been translated here as a participle.

[16:8]  ⁷ tn See similar use of this term in Ezek 23:17; Prov 7:16; Song of Songs 4:10; 7:13.

[16:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “wing” or “skirt.” The gesture symbolized acquiring a woman in early Arabia (similarly, see Deut 22:30; Ruth 3:9).

[16:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “name.”

[16:14]  ⁸ sn The description of the nation Israel in vv. 10-14 recalls the splendor of the nation’s golden age under King Solomon.

[16:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “it” (so KJV, ASV); the referent (the beauty in which the prostitute trusted, see the beginning of the verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[16:16]  ⁹ tc The text as written in the MT is incomprehensible (“not coming [plural] and he will not”). Driver has suggested a copying error of similar-sounding words, specifically לֹא (lo’) for לוֹ (lo). The feminine participle בָאוֹת (va’ot) has also been read as the feminine perfect בָאת (va’t). See L. C. Allen, Ezekiel (WBC), 1:228, n. 15.b, and D. I. Block, Ezekiel (NICOT), 1:486, n. 137.

[19:7]  ¹⁰ tn This verb and the next two verbs are hortatory subjunctives (giving exhortations).

[19:8]  ¹¹ tn On the term translated “fine linen,” BDAG 185 s.v. βύσσινος states, “made of fine linen, subst. τὸ β. fine linen, linen garment…Rv 18:12…16; 19:8, 14.”

[19:8]  ¹² sn This phrase is treated as a parenthetical explanation by the author.

[21:9]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[21:9]  ¹³ tn Grk “with me.” The translation “with me” implies that John was engaged in a dialogue with the one speaking to him (e.g., Jesus or an angel) when in reality it was a one-sided conversation, with John doing all the listening. For this reason, μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ (met’ emou, “with me”) was translated as “to me.” See also v. 15.