So when you say "rejoice and be glad" you mean....

Well that's what this venture is all about, isn't it? What does God really mean when He says it? Those words can roll right off you like they were never even said, we have heard them so often.

"I'm having a crappy day"
"Rejoice and Be Glad! God said so!"
"Oh ok well then I'll get right on that..."

Yeah, this method of dispensing advice doesn't help me rally to it, I dunno about you. I am the kind of person that needs more substance and luckily God hasn't left me hanging! But I have to ask, seek, knock in order to find out. So lets seek...er...see... it's always nice to start with the Dictionary definition of things, isn't it? Lets see what the meaning is according to Webster (you know, before we dive into the Hebrew and Greek)

Rejoicing that we made it to the top of Diamond Head

re·joice   

verb \ri-ˈjȯis\

re·joiced re·joic·ing

Definition of REJOICE

transitive verb : to give joy to : gladden

intransitive verb : to feel joy or great delight

— re·joic·er noun

— re·joic·ing·ly— rejoice in

: have, possess

Examples of REJOICE

1. We all rejoiced over our friend's good luck.
2. <rejoiced over our unexpected victory on the soccer field>

Origin of REJOICE

Middle English, from Anglo-French rejois-, stem of rejoier, rejoir, from re- + joir to welcome, enjoy, from Latin gaudēre to be glad — more at joy

First Known Use: 14th century

Related to REJOICE

Synonyms: crow, delight, exuberate, glory, jubilate, joy, kvell, exult, triumph

Antonyms: displease

 

My niece "having a cheerful or happy disposition by nature" :)

¹glad

adj \ˈglad\

glad·der glad·dest

Definition of GLAD

1 archaic : having a cheerful or happy disposition by nature

2 a : experiencing pleasure, joy, or delight : made happy b : made pleased, satisfied, or grateful —often used with of <was glad of their help> c : very willing <glad to do it>

3 a : marked by, expressive of, or caused by happiness and joy <a glad shout> b : causing happiness and joy : pleasant <glad tidings>

4 : full of brightness and cheerfulness <a glad spring morning>

— glad·ly adverb

— glad·ness noun

Examples of GLAD

1. We're glad you could come.
2. I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have.
3. The mail brought glad news from our friends in England.
4. We've been through some sad times and some glad times.

Origin of GLAD

Middle English, shining, glad, from Old English glæd; akin to Old High German glat shining, smooth, Latin glaber smooth, bald

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to GLAD

Synonyms: blissful, chuffed [British], delighted, gratified, happy, joyful, joyous, pleased, satisfied, thankful, tickled

Antonyms: displeased, dissatisfied, joyless, sad, unhappy, unpleased, unsatisfied

 

 

So there's the Webster definitions but what about the original Hebrew or Greek? Are they different? For this bit I used the website Blue Letter Bible, a great site if you haven't used it before. They even have a free iPod app! score. And it looks like they have an iPad one now too but I can't vouch for the awesome of that one.

The Lexicon result can be found here, if you want to have a look since I am not sure how to type in Hebrew (yeah sorry about that). Anyway :) in Hebrew, the word used is samach (Strong's H8055). Its Biblical usage is:

1) to rejoice, be glad

     a) (Qal)

        1) to rejoice

       2) to rejoice (arrogantly), exult (at)

       3) to rejoice (religiously)

    b) (Piel) to cause to rejoice, gladden, make glad

    c) (Hiphil) to cause to rejoice, gladden, make glad

I find this interesting! We say "Rejoice and be glad!" which can really be said in one word: Samach. However it does say that this particular usage is only found 152 times through out the King James Version. Hmmmm...well thats way off of over 800. 

Fortunately, there's more than one way to say "rejoice" in Hebrew and Greek! In fact there's fifteen ways in Hebrew and seven in Greek (there's a handy chart on BLB, check it out). I tallied it up and got a total of 652 references. Hmmmm leeeeeeeeettle closer to the goal, but not quite...we will have to see what else we can dig up. For now, my belly is hungry :P and your eyes may or may not be glazing over! So lets have a rest shall we? excellent :)