Discovery BoxIsaiah 9:3 
Context9:3 You 1 have enlarged the nation;
you give them great joy. 2
They rejoice in your presence
as harvesters rejoice;
as warriors celebrate 3 when they divide up the plunder.
Isaiah 24:11
Context24:11 They howl in the streets because of what happened to the wine; 4
all joy turns to sorrow; 5
celebrations disappear from the earth. 6
Isaiah 35:6
Context35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,
the mute tongue will shout for joy;
for water will flow 7 in the desert,
streams in the wilderness. 8
Isaiah 48:20
Context48:20 Leave Babylon!
Flee from the Babylonians!
Announce it with a shout of joy!
Make this known!
Proclaim it throughout the earth! 9
Say, ‘The Lord protects 10 his servant Jacob.
Isaiah 49:13
Context49:13 Shout for joy, O sky! 11
Rejoice, O earth!
Let the mountains give a joyful shout!
For the Lord consoles his people
and shows compassion to the 12 oppressed.
Isaiah 52:8
Context52:8 Listen, 13 your watchmen shout;
in unison they shout for joy,
for they see with their very own eyes 14
the Lord’s return to Zion.
Isaiah 60:15
Context60:15 You were once abandoned
and despised, with no one passing through,
but I will make you 15 a permanent source of pride
and joy to coming generations.
Isaiah 64:11
Context64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, 16
the place where our ancestors praised you,
has been burned with fire;
all our prized possessions have been destroyed. 17
Isaiah 65:19
Context65:19 Jerusalem will bring me joy,
and my people will bring me happiness. 18
The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow
will never be heard in her again.
Isaiah 66:10-11
Context66:10 Be happy for Jerusalem
and rejoice with her, all you who love her!
Share in her great joy,
all you who have mourned over her!
66:11 For 19 you will nurse from her satisfying breasts and be nourished; 20
you will feed with joy from her milk-filled breasts. 21
1 sn The Lord is addressed directly in vv. 3-4.
2 tc The Hebrew consonantal text reads “You multiply the nation, you do not make great the joy.” The particle לֹא (lo’, “not”) is obviously incorrect; the marginal reading has לוֹ (lo, “to him”). In this case, one should translate, “You multiply the nation, you increase his (i.e., their) joy.” However, the parallelism is tighter if one emends הַגּוֹי לוֹ (hagoy lo, “the nation, to him”) to הַגִּילָה (haggilah, “the joy,” a noun attested in Isa 65:18), which corresponds to הַשִּׂמְחָה (hasimkhah, “the joy”) later in the verse (H. Wildberger, Isaiah, 1:386). As attractive as this reading is, it has not textual evidence supporting it. The MT reading (accepting the marginal reading “to him” for the negative particle “not”) affirms that Yahweh caused the nation to grow in population and increased their joy.
3 tn Heb “as they are happy.” The word “warriors” is supplied in the translation to clarify the word picture. This last simile comes close to reality, for vv. 4-5 indicate that the people have won a great military victory over their oppressors.
4 tn Heb “[there is] an outcry over the wine in the streets.”
5 tn Heb “all joy turns to evening,” the darkness of evening symbolizing distress and sorrow.
6 tn Heb “the joy of the earth disappears.”
7 tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”
8 tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”
9 tn Heb “to the end of the earth” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
10 tn Heb “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.
11 tn Or “O heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.
12 tn Heb “his” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).
13 tn קוֹל (qol, “voice”) is used at the beginning of the verse as an interjection.
14 tn Heb “eye in eye”; KJV, ASV “eye to eye”; NAB “directly, before their eyes.”
15 tn Heb “Instead of your being abandoned and despised, with no one passing through, I will make you.”
16 tn Heb “our source of pride.”
17 tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”
18 tn Heb “and I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and be happy in my people.”
19 tn Or “in order that”; ASV, NRSV “that.”
20 tn Heb “you will suck and be satisfied, from her comforting breast.”
21 tn Heb “you will slurp and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.”
sn Zion’s residents will benefit from and enjoy her great material prosperity. See v. 12.
