Psalms 135:19-21

135:19 O family ¹  of Israel, praise the Lord!

O family of Aaron, praise the Lord!

135:20 O family of Levi, praise the Lord!

You loyal followers ²  of the Lord, praise the Lord!

135:21 The Lord deserves praise in Zion ³  –

he who dwells in Jerusalem. ⁴ 

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 146:10

146:10 The Lord rules forever,

your God, O Zion, throughout the generations to come! ⁵ 

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 149:2

149:2 Let Israel rejoice in their Creator!

Let the people ⁶  of Zion delight in their king! ⁷ 

Isaiah 12:6

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

for the Holy One of Israel ⁸  acts mightily ⁹  among you!”

Isaiah 52:7

52:7 How delightful it is to see approaching over the mountains ¹⁰ 

the feet of a messenger who announces peace,

a messenger who brings good news, who announces deliverance,

who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!” ¹¹ 

Joel 2:23

2:23 Citizens of Zion, ¹²  rejoice!

Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done! ¹³ 

For he has given to you the early rains ¹⁴  as vindication.

He has sent ¹⁵  to you the rains –

both the early and the late rains ¹⁶  as formerly.

[135:19]  ¹ tn Heb “house” (here and in the next two lines).

[135:20]  ² tn Heb “fearers.”

[135:21]  ³ tn Heb “praised be the Lord from Zion.”

[135:21]  ⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[146:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “for a generation and a generation.”

[149:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “sons.”

[149:2]  ⁷ sn The Lord is the king here, as the parallelism in the previous line (“their creator”) indicates.

[12:6]  ⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[12:6]  ⁹ tn Or “is great” (TEV). However, the context emphasizes his mighty acts of deliverance (cf. NCV), not some general or vague character quality.

[52:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “How delightful on the mountains.”

[52:7]  ¹¹ 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.

[2:23]  ¹² tn Heb “sons of Zion.”

[2:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”

[2:23]  ¹⁴ tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק , moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.

[2:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “caused to come down.”

[2:23]  ¹⁶ sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.