Psalms 97:11

97:11 The godly bask in the light;

the morally upright experience joy. ¹ 

Psalms 4:7

4:7 You make me happier ² 

than those who have abundant grain and wine. ³ 

Psalms 45:15

45:15 They are bubbling with joy as they walk in procession

and enter the royal palace. ⁴ 

Psalms 51:8

51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! ⁵ 

May the bones ⁶  you crushed rejoice! ⁷ 

Psalms 68:3

68:3 But the godly ⁸  are happy;

they rejoice before God

and are overcome with joy. ⁹ 

Psalms 100:2

100:2 Worship ¹⁰  the Lord with joy!

Enter his presence with joyful singing!

Psalms 16:11

16:11 You lead me in ¹¹  the path of life; ¹² 

I experience absolute joy in your presence; ¹³ 

you always give me sheer delight. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 21:6

21:6 For you grant him lasting blessings;

you give him great joy by allowing him into your presence. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 30:11

30:11 Then you turned my lament into dancing;

you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 43:4

43:4 Then I will go ¹⁷  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ¹⁸ 

so that I express my thanks to you, ¹⁹  O God, my God, with a harp.

Psalms 106:5

106:5 so I may see the prosperity ²⁰  of your chosen ones,

rejoice along with your nation, ²¹ 

and boast along with the people who belong to you. ²² 

Psalms 137:3

137:3 for there our captors ask us to compose songs; ²³ 

those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: ²⁴ 

“Sing for us a song about Zion!” ²⁵ 

Psalms 137:6

137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

and do not give Jerusalem priority

over whatever gives me the most joy. ²⁶ 

[97:11]  ¹ tn Heb “Light is planted for the godly, and for the upright of heart joy.” The translation assumes an emendation of זָרַע (zara’, “planted”) to זָרַח (zara’, “shines”) which collocates more naturally with “light.” “Light” here symbolizes the joy (note the following line) that accompanies deliverance and the outpouring of divine favor.

[4:7]  ² tn Heb “you place joy in my heart.” Another option is to understand the perfect verbal form as indicating certitude, “you will make me happier.”

[4:7]  ³ tn Heb “from (i.e., more than) the time (when) their grain and their wine are abundant.”

[45:15]  ³ tn Heb “they are led with joy and happiness, they enter the house of the king.”

[51:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.

[51:8]  ⁵ sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.

[51:8]  ⁶ tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.

[68:3]  ⁵ tn By placing the subject first the psalmist highlights the contrast between God’s ecstatic people and his defeated enemies (vv. 1-2).

[68:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they are happy with joy” (cf. NEB). Some translate the prefixed verbal forms of v. 3 as jussives, “Let the godly be happy, let them rejoice before God, and let them be happy with joy!” (Cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV; note the call to praise in v. 4.)

[100:2]  ⁶ tn Or “serve.”

[16:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “cause me to know”; or “cause me to experience.”

[16:11]  ⁸ tn This is a metaphorical way of saying, “you preserve my life.” The phrase “path of life” stands in contrast to death/Sheol in Prov 2:18-19; 5:5-6; 15:24.

[16:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “abundance of joy [is] with your face.” The plural form of the noun שִׂמְחָה (simkhah, “joy”) occurs only here and in Ps 45:15. It may emphasize the degree of joy experienced.

[16:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “delight [is] in your right hand forever.” The plural form of the adjective נָעִים (na’im, “pleasant, delightful”) may here emphasize the degree of delight experienced (see Job 36:11).

[21:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “you make him happy with joy with [i.e., “close by” or “in”] your face.” On the idiom “with your face” (i.e., “in your presence”) see Ps 16:11 and BDB 816 s.v. פָּנֻה II.2.a.

[30:11]  ⁹ sn Covered me with joy. “Joy” probably stands metonymically for festive attire here.

[43:4]  ¹⁰ tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”

[43:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[43:4]  ¹² tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.

[106:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “good.”

[106:5]  ¹² tn Heb “in order that [I may] rejoice with the rejoicing of your nation.”

[106:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “with your inheritance.”

[137:3]  ¹² tn Heb “ask us [for] the words of a song.”

[137:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “our [?] joy.” The derivation and meaning of the Hebrew phrase תוֹלָלֵינוּ (tolalenu, “our [?]”) are uncertain. A derivation from תָּלַל (talal, “to mock”) fits contextually, but this root occurs only in the Hiphil stem. For a discussion of various proposals, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 236.

[137:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from a song of Zion.” Most modern translations read, “one of the songs of Zion,” taking the preposition מִן (min, “from”) as partitive and “song” as collective. The present translation assumes the mem (ם) is enclitic, being misunderstood later as the prefixed preposition.

[137:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”