Sing to the Lord a new song,
    for he has done marvelous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
    have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made his salvation known
    and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love
    and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
    burst into jubilant song with music;
make music to the Lord with the harp,
    with the harp and the sound of singing,
with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn—
    shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
    the world, and all who live in it.
Let the rivers clap their hands,
    let the mountains sing together for joy;
let them sing before the Lord,
    for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
    and the peoples with equity.

• Psalm 98:1-9

Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.
    From the house of the Lord we bless you.
The Lord is God,
    and he has made his light shine on us.
With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession
    up to the horns of the altar.

• Psalm 118:26-27

The joyful timbrels are stilled, the noise of the revelers has stopped, the joyful harp is silent.

• Isaiah 24:8

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing

Joy to the Earth, the Savior reigns
Let all their songs employ
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy

He rules the world with truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders, wonders, of His love

Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let Earth receive her King
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
(And Heaven and nature sing)
And Heaven and nature sing
(And Heaven and nature sing)
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.”

• Isaac Watts, Joy to the World

Caroling was such an important part of Christmas.  I was probably caroling before I could read.  I remember walking from house to house with other members of the youth group and even before I was old enough for youth group.  No one invited us in for cocoa and cookies.  All of that was waiting back at the church.

For the past two years, I have dissected carols during the Advent Season for quizzes.  I plan to do so again, but maybe in yet another different vein, and the carols that I choose will be some that are very popular and that I have not yet used.

The first carol for 2023 is Joy to the World.  Why?  Well, why not in a previous year?  It is said to be the composer’s feelings regarding Psalm 98, but the words do not match at all.  Some of the words match other Scriptures, in part or nearly completely.  But making this carol to match the format of previous carol dissections was difficult at best.

I looked at the repeated words at the end of each verse.  “Heaven and nature sing”, “Repeat the sounding joy”, and “Wonders of His love.”

In the Question section I have the questions divided into three sections, paralleling the repeated words with verses that contain both “heaven and earth” (nature meaning the earth), verses that contain both “sound” and ‘joy”, and verses that contain both “wonder” and “love”.  There might be a joyful or wonderful, and heaven may be singular or plural.

The Questions:

?	Heaven and Nature Sing	Bible Reference	Answer
1	What is the first verse that mentions heavens and earth?
2	What two Commandments mention heavens and the earth?
3	Who gives a testimony of faith (with a lot of fear) when Joshua sends spies into the land of Canaan
4	Hezekiah was afraid and Isaiah prepared a prayer for the king.  The king acknowledges in the prayer that God made the heavens and the earth.  What was the purpose, and result, of this prayer?
	Repeat the Sounding Joy
5	Who ordered the sound of joy with musical instruments in 1 Chronicles 16:16?
6	What joyous sounds does Jeremiah 33 talk about when Israel is returned to the promised land?  One is at the start of a family and one is when that family expresses their thanksgiving.
7	In the only reference to “sound” and “joy” in the New Testament, who are the two ladies when one says to the other that at the sound of her greeting, the baby in my womb leapt with joy?
	Wonders of His Love
8	Who grieved the loss of a ‘blood’ brother after his death, saying that their bond of love was greater than love of a woman?
9	There are two Psalms that express the “wonders of God’s Love” (His Love or Your Great Love).  Both are within the first  37 psalms (first quarter).  Name either one.
10	Why did the woman in Song of Songs say that there was no wonder that young girls loved her lover?

The first question should be easy, but many people may try to overthink it.  It is the reason why Isaac Watt wrote that Heaven and Nature sing.  God created everything and thus, everything sings God’s praises every day.

The heavens and the earth proclaim that all this was created by an intelligent designer.  There are too many factors in simply having a planet that can support life to think intelligently that this just happened by accident.

And I listed the verse from Isaiah 24, the only verse in the NIV that speaks of both “Joyful” and “noise.”  There are several verses to choose from regarding “sound” and “joy”.  And repeating the sounding joy causes me to think of how we are joyful and how we express that joy.

The difficult one, and thus one really hard question, maybe all three, regard verses with “wonder” and “love”.  I used both verses outside the psalms, and unless you memorize a lot of the psalms, questions within the Psalms can become obscure.  But think about those two words together.  We are loved by God while we are sinners.  God loves us and chooses His elect.  And He gives us a key to the kingdom, as adopted children, brothers of Jesus.  If you do not wonder at that, have you really thought in depth on the subject?  I fall prostrate before God in awe thinking of it.

Bible References:

?	Heaven and Nature Sing	Bible Reference	Answer
1	What is the first verse that mentions heavens and earth?	N/A
2	What two Commandments mention heavens and the earth?	Exodus 20:4, 11
3	Who gives a testimony of faith (with a lot of fear) when Joshua sends spies into the land of Canaan	Joshua 2:11
4	Hezekiah was afraid and Isaiah prepared a prayer for the king.  The king acknowledges in the prayer that God made the heavens and the earth.  What was the purpose, and result, of this prayer?	2 Kings 19:15
	Repeat the Sounding Joy
5	Who ordered the sound of joy with musical instruments in 1 Chronicles 16:16?	1 Chronicles 16:16
6	What joyous sounds does Jeremiah 33 talk about when Israel is returned to the promised land?  One is at the start of a family and one is when that family expresses their thanksgiving.	Jeremiah 33:11
7	In the only reference to “sound” and “joy” in the New Testament, who are the two ladies when one says to the other that at the sound of her greeting, the baby in my womb leapt with joy?	Luke 1:44
	Wonders of His Love
8	Who grieved the loss of a ‘blood’ brother after his death, saying that their bond of love was greater than love of a woman?	2 Samuel 1:26
9	There are two Psalms that express the “wonders of God’s Love” (His Love or Your Great Love).  Both are within the first  37 psalms (first quarter).  Name either one.	N/A
10	Why did the woman in Song of Songs say that there was no wonder that young girls loved her lover?	Song of Songs 1:3

The eighth question has been used in controversy of late.  But there is nothing in this verse that hints at homosexual love being commended under God, nor that the participants were intimate in that fashion.  But, what is a love that is stronger than the love of a married couple, with all the sex?

With the divorce rate these days, is that even an argument?!

But let’s let Jesus answer the question.  What did Jesus say was the greatest expression of love?  When one lays down his life for another.  Of course, Jesus is talking about His death on the cross for many.

But in this question, the “love” in this case was one who protected the other and would have readily given his life for the other.

   …

   …

   …

The Answers:

?	Heaven and Nature Sing	Bible Reference	Answer
1	What is the first verse that mentions heavens and earth?	N/A	Genesis 1:1; In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
2	What two Commandments mention heavens and the earth?	Exodus 20:4, 11	2nd, do not make graven images, and 4th , Remember the Sabbath.
3	Who gives a testimony of faith (with a lot of fear) when Joshua sends spies into the land of Canaan	Joshua 2:11	Rahab
4	Hezekiah was afraid and Isaiah prepared a prayer for the king.  The king acknowledges in the prayer that God made the heavens and the earth.  What was the purpose, and result, of this prayer?	2 Kings 19:15	Hezekiah and Judah were delivered from the hands of Sennacherib.
	Repeat the Sounding Joy
5	Who ordered the sound of joy with musical instruments in 1 Chronicles 16:16?	1 Chronicles 16:16	King David
6	What joyous sounds does Jeremiah 33 talk about when Israel is returned to the promised land?  One is at the start of a family and one is when that family expresses their thanksgiving.	Jeremiah 33:11	The sounds of a bride and bridegroom talking and the sound of a family making a thank offering.
7	In the only reference to “sound” and “joy” in the New Testament, who are the two ladies when one says to the other that at the sound of her greeting, the baby in my womb leapt with joy?	Luke 1:44	Elizabeth said this about Mary’s greeting
	Wonders of His Love
8	Who grieved the loss of a ‘blood’ brother after his death, saying that their bond of love was greater than love of a woman?	2 Samuel 1:26	David after Jonathan died in battle
9	There are two Psalms that express the “wonders of God’s Love” (His Love or Your Great Love).  Both are within the first  37 psalms (first quarter).  Name either one.	N/A	Psalms 17:7 and 31:21
10	Why did the woman in Song of Songs say that there was no wonder that young girls loved her lover?	Song of Songs 1:3	He has pleasing perfumes, but even his name is like perfume poured out.

And here is Celtic Women singing Joy to the World.

And here is Pentatonix with their version of Joy to the World.

And here are The Petersens performing a Bluegrass version of Joy to the World.

Maybe you are tired of the Chip Davis version, but I cannot get enough of it.  I hope you enjoy the Mannheim Steamroller version.

If you like these Saturday morning Bible quizzes, but you think you missed a few, you can use this LINK. I have set up a page off the home page for links to these Saturday morning posts. I will continue to modify the page as I add more.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.