Psalms 32:11--33:3

32:11 Rejoice in the Lord and be happy, you who are godly!

Shout for joy, all you who are morally upright! ¹ 

Psalm 33 ² 

33:1 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!

It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.

33:2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp!

Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument!

33:3 Sing to him a new song! ³ 

Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him! ⁴ 

Psalms 97:12

97:12 You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord!

Give thanks to his holy name. ⁵ 

Psalms 103:20-22

103:20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,

you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees

and obey his orders! ⁶ 

103:21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his, ⁷ 

you servants of his who carry out his desires! ⁸ 

103:22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made, ⁹ 

in all the regions ¹⁰  of his kingdom!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Psalms 132:9

132:9 May your priests be clothed with integrity! ¹¹ 

May your loyal followers shout for joy!

Psalms 135:19-21

135:19 O family ¹²  of Israel, praise the Lord!

O family of Aaron, praise the Lord!

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

You loyal followers ¹³  of the Lord, praise the Lord!

135:21 The Lord deserves praise in Zion ¹⁴  –

he who dwells in Jerusalem. ¹⁵ 

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 148:14--149:1

148:14 He has made his people victorious, ¹⁶ 

and given all his loyal followers reason to praise –

the Israelites, the people who are close to him. ¹⁷ 

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 149 ¹⁸ 

149:1 Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song!

Praise him in the assembly of the godly! ¹⁹ 

Psalms 149:1

Psalm 149 ²⁰ 

149:1 Praise the Lord!

Sing to the Lord a new song!

Praise him in the assembly of the godly! ²¹ 

Psalms 16:4

16:4 their troubles multiply,

they desire other gods. ²² 

I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods, ²³ 

nor will I make vows in the name of their gods. ²⁴ 

Revelation 19:5-6

19:5 Then ²⁵  a voice came from the throne, saying:

“Praise our God

all you his servants,

and all you who fear Him,

both the small and the great!”

The Wedding Celebration of the Lamb

19:6 Then ²⁶  I heard what sounded like the voice of a vast throng, like the roar of many waters and like loud crashes of thunder. They were shouting: ²⁷ 

“Hallelujah!

For the Lord our God, ²⁸  the All-Powerful, ²⁹  reigns!

[32:11]  ¹ tn Heb “all [you] pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[33:1]  ² sn Psalm 33. In this hymn the psalmist praises the Lord as the sovereign creator and just ruler of the world who protects and vindicates those who fear him.

[33:3]  ³ sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the lives of his people in fresh and exciting ways.

[33:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “play skillfully with a loud shout.”

[97:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “to his holy remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זָכַר (zakhar, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 6:5; 30:4. The Lord’s “name” is “holy” in the sense that it is a reminder of his uniqueness and greatness.

[103:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “[you] mighty ones of strength, doers of his word, by listening to the voice of his word.”

[103:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “all his hosts.”

[103:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “his attendants, doers of his desire.”

[103:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “all his works,” which includes mankind.

[103:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “places.”

[132:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “righteousness.”

[135:19]  ¹² tn Heb “house” (here and in the next two lines).

[135:20]  ¹³ tn Heb “fearers.”

[135:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “praised be the Lord from Zion.”

[135:21]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[148:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he lifted up a horn for his people.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). Another option is to take the “horn” as a symbol for the Davidic king, through whom the Lord gives his people military victory.

[148:14]  ¹⁷ tn “[there is] praise for all his loyal followers, to the sons of Israel, the people near him.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the victory that prompts it.

[149:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 149. The psalmist calls upon God’s people to praise him because he is just and avenges them.

[149:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his praise in the assembly of the godly ones.”

[149:1]  ²⁰ sn Psalm 149. The psalmist calls upon God’s people to praise him because he is just and avenges them.

[149:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “his praise in the assembly of the godly ones.”

[16:4]  ²² tn Heb “their troubles multiply, another, they pay a dowry.” The meaning of the text is unclear. The Hebrew term עַצְּבוֹתָם (’atsÿvotam, “troubles”) appears to be a plural form of עַצֶּבֶת (’atsÿvet, “pain, wound”; see Job 9:28; Ps 147:3). Because idolatry appears to be in view (see v. 4b), some prefer to emend the noun to עַצְּבִים (’atsÿvim, “idols”). “Troubles” may be a wordplay on “idols” or a later alteration designed to emphasize that idolatry leads to trouble. The singular form אחר (“another”) is syntactically problematic here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a plural אֲחֵרִים (’akherim, “others”). (The final mem [ם] could have been lost by haplography; note the mem [מ] at the beginning of the next word.) In this case it might be taken as an abbreviated form of the well-attested phrase אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים (’elohim ’akherim, “other gods”). (In Isa 42:8 the singular form אַחַר (’akher, “another”) is used of another god.) The verb מָהַר (mahar) appears in the Qal stem; the only other use of a Qal verbal form of a root מָהַר is in Exod 22:15, where the denominative verb מָהֹר (mahor, “purchase [a wife]”) appears; cf. the related noun מֹהַר (mohar, “bride money, purchase price for a wife”). If that verb is understood here, then the idolaters are pictured as eager bridegrooms paying the price to acquire the object of their desire. Another option is to emend the verb to a Piel and translate, “hurry (after).”

[16:4]  ²³ tn Heb “I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood.” The third masculine plural suffix would appear to refer back to the people/leaders mentioned in v. 3. However, if we emend אֲחֵר (’akher, “another”) to the plural אֲחֵרִים (’akherim, “other [gods]”) in v. 4, the suffix can be understood as referring to these gods – “the drink offerings [made to] them.” The next line favors this interpretation. Perhaps this refers to some type of pagan cultic ritual. Elsewhere wine is the prescribed content of drink offerings.

[16:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and I will not lift up their names upon my lips.” The expression “lift up the name” probably refers here to swearing an oath in the name of deity (see Exod 20:7; Deut 5:11). If so, the third masculine plural suffix on “names” likely refers to the pagan gods, not the people/leaders. See the preceding note.

[19:5]  ²⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:6]  ²⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.

[19:6]  ²⁷ tn Grk “like the voice of a large crowd…saying.” Because of the complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation by supplying the words “They were.”

[19:6]  ²⁸ tc Several mss (א² P 1611 2053 2344 pc Ï^K lat ) read “the Lord our God” (κύριος ὁ θεός ἡμῶν, kurio" Jo qeo" Jhmwn). Other important mss (A 1006 1841 pc), however, omit the “our” (ἡμῶν). Further, certain mss (051 Ï^A) omit “Lord” (κύριος), while others (including א*) change the order of the statement to “God our Lord” (ὁ θεός ὁ κύριος ἡμῶν). The expression “the Lord God, the All-Powerful” occurs in 6 other places in Revelation (1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22) and the pronoun “our” is never used. Scribes familiar with the expression in this book, and especially with the frequent κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ (kurio" Jo qeo" Jo pantokratwr; “the Lord God, the All-Powerful”) in the OT Prophets (LXX; cf. Jer 39:19; Hos 12:6; Amos 3:13; 4:13; 5:8, 14, 15, 16, 27; 9:5, 6, 15; Nah 3:5; Zech 10:3), would naturally omit the pronoun. Its presence may have arisen due to liturgical motivations or to conform to the expression “our God” in 19:1, 5, but this seems much less likely than an aversion to using the pronoun here and only here in the Greek Bible in the fuller title κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ παντοκράτωρ.

[19:6]  ²⁹ tn On this word BDAG 755 s.v. παντοκράτωρ states, “the Almighty, All-Powerful, Omnipotent (One) only of God…(ὁ) κύριος ὁ θεὸς ὁ π. …Rv 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7; 21:22…κύριος ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν ὁ π. Rv 19:6.”