Discovery BoxIsaiah 62:5
Context62:5 As a young man marries a young woman,
so your sons 1 will marry you.
As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride,
so your God will rejoice over you.
Psalms 149:4
Context149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;
he exalts the oppressed by delivering them. 2
Jeremiah 32:41
Context32:41 I will take delight in doing good to them. I will faithfully and wholeheartedly plant them 3 firmly in the land.’
Zephaniah 3:17
Context3:17 The Lord your God is in your midst;
he is a warrior who can deliver.
He takes great delight in you; 4
he renews you by his love; 5
he shouts for joy over you.” 6
[62:5] 1 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).
[149:4] 2 tn Heb “he honors the oppressed [with] deliverance.”
[32:41] 3 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).
[3:17] 4 tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”
[3:17] 5 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”).
