“The Lord who rules over all says, ‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth ¹  months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

When a woman gives birth, she has distress ¹  because her time ²  has come, but when her child is born, she no longer remembers the suffering because of her joy that a human being ³  has been born into the world. ⁴ 

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls and will give an account for their work. ¹  Let them do this ²  with joy and not with complaints, for this would be no advantage for you.

You ¹  have not seen him, but you love him. You ²  do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice ³  with an indescribable and glorious ⁴  joy,

Though I have many other ¹  things to write to you, I do not want to do so with ²  paper and ink, ³  but I hope to come visit you and speak face to face, ⁴  so that our joy may be complete. ⁵ 

The entire assembly then decided to celebrate for seven more days; so they joyfully celebrated for seven more days.

I desperately want to be ¹  in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ²  My heart and my entire being ³  shout for joy to the living God.

In times of prosperity ¹  be joyful, but in times of adversity ²  consider this: God has made one as well as the other, ³  so that no one can discover what the future holds. ⁴ 

Go, eat your food ¹  with joy, and drink your wine with a happy heart, because God has already approved your works.

Let the desert and its cities shout out, the towns where the nomads of Kedar live! Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully; let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

In unison give a joyful shout, O ruins of Jerusalem! For the Lord consoles his people; he protects ¹  Jerusalem.

Then heaven and earth and all that is in them will sing for joy over Babylon. For destroyers from the north will attack it,” says the Lord. ¹ 

When the men ¹  arrived after David returned from striking down the Philistine, the women from all the cities of Israel came out singing and dancing to meet King Saul. They were happy as they played their tambourines and three-stringed instruments. ² 

On the fifteenth day after the festival started, ¹  he dismissed the people. They asked God to empower the king ²  and then went to their homes, happy and content ³  because of all the good the Lord had done for his servant David and his people Israel.

The vine has dried up; the fig tree languishes – the pomegranate, date, and apple ¹  as well. In fact, ²  all the trees of the field have dried up. Indeed, the joy of the people ³  has dried up!

“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure, hidden in a field, that a person found and hid. Then because of joy he went and sold all that he had and bought that field.

I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner ¹  who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people ²  who have no need to repent. ³ 

The Lord’s precepts are fair ¹  and make one joyful. ²  The Lord’s commands ³  are pure ⁴  and give insight for life. ⁵ 

They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly. ¹  The Lord’s right hand conquers, ² 

Let Israel rejoice in their Creator! Let the people ¹  of Zion delight in their king! ²