May your father and your mother have joy; may she who bore you rejoice. ¹ 

And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.

Why did you run away secretly ¹  and deceive me? ²  Why didn’t you tell me so I could send you off with a celebration complete with singing, tambourines, and harps? ³ 

“Because you have not served the Lord your God joyfully and wholeheartedly with the abundance of everything you have,

For the music director; a psalm of David. O Lord, the king rejoices in the strength you give; ²  he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide. ³ 

You love ¹  justice and hate evil. ²  For this reason God, your God ³  has anointed you ⁴  with the oil of joy, ⁵  elevating you above your companions. ⁶ 

At that time we laughed loudly and shouted for joy. ¹  At that time the nations said, ²  “The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”

Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. ¹  The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again.

But rejoice in the degree that you have shared in the sufferings of Christ, so that when his glory is revealed ¹  you may also rejoice and be glad. ² 

Many of the priests, the Levites, and the leaders ¹  – older people who had seen with their own eyes the former temple while it was still established ²  – were weeping loudly, ³  and many others raised their voice in a joyous shout.

He said to them, “Go and eat delicacies and drink sweet drinks and send portions to those for whom nothing is prepared. For this day is holy to our Lord. ¹  Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”

All the nations will hear about all the good things which I will do to them. This city will bring me fame, honor, and praise before them for the joy that I bring it. The nations will tremble in awe at all the peace and prosperity that I will provide for it.’ ¹ 

“And you, son of man, this is what will happen on the day I take ¹  from them their stronghold – their beautiful source of joy, the object in which their eyes delight, and the main concern of their lives, ²  as well as their sons and daughters: ³ 

David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint some of their relatives as musicians; they were to play various instruments, including stringed instruments and cymbals, and to sing loudly and joyfully. ¹ 

Also their neighbors, from as far away as Issachar, Zebulun, and Naphtali, were bringing food on donkeys, camels, mules, and oxen. There were large supplies of flour, fig cakes, raisins, wine, olive oil, beef, and lamb, ¹  for Israel was celebrating. ² 

as the time when the Jews gave themselves rest from their enemies – the month when their trouble was turned to happiness and their mourning to a holiday. These were to be days of banqueting, happiness, sending gifts to one another, and providing for the poor.

For to the one who pleases him, ¹  God gives wisdom, knowledge, and joy, but to the sinner, he gives the task of amassing ²  wealth ³  – only to give ⁴  it ⁵  to the one who pleases God. This ⁶  task of the wicked ⁷  is futile – like chasing the wind!

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.

keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. ¹ 

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 ¹  that the sound was heard a long way off.