Psalms 53:6

53:6 I wish the deliverance ¹  of Israel would come from Zion!

When God restores the well-being of his people, ² 

may Jacob rejoice, ³ 

may Israel be happy! ⁴ 

Ezra 3:11-13

3:11 With antiphonal response they sang, ⁵  praising and glorifying the Lord:

“For he is good;

his loyal love toward Israel is forever.”

All the people gave a loud ⁶  shout as they praised the Lord when the temple of the Lord was established. 3:12 Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ⁷  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ⁸  – were weeping loudly, ⁹  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout. 3:13 People were unable to tell the difference between the sound of joyous shouting and the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people were shouting so loudly ¹⁰  that the sound was heard a long way off.

Jeremiah 33:11

33:11 Once again there will be sounds ¹¹  of joy and gladness and the glad celebrations of brides and grooms. ¹²  Once again people will bring their thank offerings to the temple of the Lord and will say, “Give thanks to the Lord who rules over all. For the Lord is good and his unfailing love lasts forever.” ¹³  For I, the Lord, affirm ¹⁴  that I will restore the land to what it was ¹⁵  in days of old.’ ¹⁶ 

[53:6]  ¹ tn This refers metonymically to God, the one who lives in Zion and provides deliverance for Israel.

[53:6]  ² tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] his people.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv).

[53:6]  ³ tn The verb form is jussive.

[53:6]  ⁴ tn Because the parallel verb is jussive, this verb, which is ambiguous in form, should be taken as a jussive as well.

[3:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “they answered.”

[3:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “great.”

[3:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “the heads of the fathers.”

[3:12]  ⁸ sn The temple had been destroyed some fifty years earlier by the Babylonians in 586 b.c.

[3:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “with a great voice.”

[3:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a great shout.”

[33:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “33:10 Thus says the Lord, ‘There will again be heard in this place of which you are saying [masc. pl.], “It is a ruin without people and without animals,” [that is] in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem which are desolate without people and without inhabitants and without animals 33:11 the sound of….” The long run-on sentence in Hebrew has been broken down to better conform with contemporary English style.

[33:11]  ¹² sn What is predicted here is a reversal of the decimation caused by the Babylonian conquest that had been threatened in 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.

[33:11]  ¹³ sn This is a common hymnic introduction to both individual songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 118:1) and communal songs of thanksgiving (e.g., Ps 136 where it is a liturgical refrain accompanying a recital of Israel’s early history and of the Lord’s continuing providence).

[33:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[33:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “I will restore the fortunes of the land.”

[33:11]  ¹⁶ tn This phrase simply means “as formerly” (BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן 3.a). The reference to the “as formerly” must be established from the context. See the usage in Judg 20:32; 1 Kgs 13:6; Isa 1:26.