51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;
he will console all her ruins.
He will make her wilderness like Eden,
her desert like the Garden of the Lord.
Happiness and joy will be restored to 1 her,
thanksgiving and the sound of music.
51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;
they will enter Zion with a happy shout.
Unending joy will crown them, 2
happiness and joy will overwhelm 3 them;
grief and suffering will disappear. 4
1 tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.
3 tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”
4 tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”