Psalms 35:27

35:27 May those who desire my vindication shout for joy and rejoice!

May they continually say, ¹  “May the Lord be praised, ²  for he wants his servant to be secure.” ³ 

Psalms 149:4

149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;

he exalts the oppressed by delivering them. ⁴ 

Proverbs 11:20

11:20 The Lord abhors ⁵  those who are perverse in heart, ⁶ 

but those who are blameless in their ways ⁷  are his delight. ⁸ 

Proverbs 31:30

31:30 Charm is deceitful ⁹  and beauty is fleeting, ¹⁰ 

but a woman who fears the Lord ¹¹  will be praised.

Isaiah 62:4

62:4 You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,”

and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.”

Indeed, ¹²  you will be called “My Delight is in Her,” ¹³ 

and your land “Married.” ¹⁴ 

For the Lord will take delight in you,

and your land will be married to him. ¹⁵ 

Zephaniah 3:17

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

he is a warrior who can deliver.

He takes great delight in you; ¹⁶ 

he renews you by his love; ¹⁷ 

he shouts for joy over you.” ¹⁸ 

Malachi 3:16-17

3:16 Then those who respected ¹⁹  the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord took notice. ²⁰  A scroll ²¹  was prepared before him in which were recorded the names of those who respected the Lord and honored his name. 3:17 “They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. ²²  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.

Malachi 3:1

3:1 “I am about to send my messenger, ²³  who will clear the way before me. Indeed, the Lord ²⁴  you are seeking will suddenly come to his temple, and the messenger ²⁵  of the covenant, whom you long for, is certainly coming,” says the Lord who rules over all.

Malachi 3:4

3:4 The offerings ²⁶  of Judah and Jerusalem ²⁷  will be pleasing to the Lord as in former times and years past.

[35:27]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27a are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-26).

[35:27]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great.”

[35:27]  ³ tn Heb “the one who desires the peace of his servant.”

[149:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “he honors the oppressed [with] deliverance.”

[11:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “an abomination of the Lord.” The term יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) functions as a subjective genitive. Cf. NIV “detests”; NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT “hates.”

[11:20]  ⁶ sn The word עִקְּשֵׁי (“crooked; twisted; perverted”) describes the wicked as having “twisted minds.” Their mentality is turned toward evil things.

[11:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “those who are blameless of way.” The noun דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) is a genitive of specification: “blameless in their way.”

[11:20]  ⁸ sn The noun means “goodwill, favor, acceptance, will”; it is related to the verb רָצַה (ratsah) which means “to be pleased with; to accept favorably.” These words are used frequently in scripture to describe what pleases the Lord, meaning, what he accepts. In particular, sacrifices offered properly find acceptance with God (Ps 51:19). Here the lifestyle that is blameless pleases him.

[31:30]  ⁹ tn The first word of the twenty-first line begins with שׁ (shin), the twenty-first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The graphic distinction between שׁ (shin) and שׂ (sin) had not been made at the time the book of Proverbs was written; that graphic distinction was introduced by the Masoretes, ca. a.d. 1000.

[31:30]  ¹⁰ sn The verse shows that “charm” and “beauty” do not endure as do those qualities that the fear of the Lord produces. Charm is deceitful: One may be disappointed in the character of the one with beauty. Beauty is vain (fleeting as a vapor): Physical appearance will not last. The writer is not saying these are worthless; he is saying there is something infinitely more valuable.

[31:30]  ¹¹ sn This chapter describes the wise woman as fearing the Lord. It is the fear of the Lord that is the beginning of wisdom – that was the motto of the book (1:7). Psalm 111:10 also repeats that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

[62:4]  ¹² tn Or “for”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “but.”

[62:4]  ¹³ tn Hebrew חֶפְצִי־בָהּ (kheftsi-vah), traditionally transliterated “Hephzibah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ¹⁴ tn Hebrew בְּעוּלָה (bÿ’ulah), traditionally transliterated “Beulah” (so KJV, ASV, NIV).

[62:4]  ¹⁵ tn That is, the land will be restored to the Lord’s favor and once again enjoy his blessing and protection. To indicate the land’s relationship to the Lord, the words “to him” have been supplied at the end of the clause.

[3:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with joy.”

[3:17]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he rejoices over you with a shout of joy.”

[3:16]  ¹⁹ tn Or “fear” (so NAB); NRSV “revered”; NCV “honored.”

[3:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “heard and listened”; NAB “listened attentively.”

[3:16]  ²¹ sn The scroll mentioned here is a “memory book” (סֵפֶר זִכָּרוֹן, sefer zikkaron) in which the Lord keeps an ongoing record of the names of all the redeemed (see Exod 32:32; Isa 4:3; Dan 12:1; Rev 20:12-15).

[3:17]  ²² sn The Hebrew word סְגֻלָּה (sÿgullah, “special property”) is a technical term referring to all the recipients of God’s redemptive grace, especially Israel (Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18). The Lord says here that he will not forget even one individual in the day of judgment and reward.

[3:1]  ²³ tn In Hebrew the phrase “my messenger” is מַלְאָכִי (mal’akhi), the same form as the prophet’s name (see note on the name “Malachi” in 1:1). However, here the messenger appears to be an eschatological figure who is about to appear, as the following context suggests. According to 4:5, this messenger is “Elijah the prophet,” whom the NT identifies as John the Baptist (Matt 11:10; Mark 1:2) because he came in the “spirit and power” of Elijah (Matt 11:14; 17:11-12; Lk 1:17).

[3:1]  ²⁴ tn Here the Hebrew term הָאָדוֹן (ha’adon) is used, not יְהוָה (yÿhvah, typically rendered Lord). Thus the focus is not on the Lord as the covenant God, but on his role as master.

[3:1]  ²⁵ sn This messenger of the covenant may be equated with my messenger (that is, Elijah) mentioned earlier in the verse, or with the Lord himself. In either case the messenger functions as an enforcer of the covenant. Note the following verses, which depict purifying judgment on a people that has violated the Lord’s covenant.

[3:4]  ²⁶ tn Or “gift.”

[3:4]  ²⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.