72:10 The kings of Tarshish 2 and the coastlands will offer gifts;
the kings of Sheba 3 and Seba 4 will bring tribute.
24:15 So in the east 5 extol the Lord,
along the seacoasts extol 6 the fame 7 of the Lord God of Israel.
40:15 Look, the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales.
He lifts 8 the coastlands 9 as if they were dust.
41:5 The coastlands 10 see and are afraid;
the whole earth 11 trembles;
they approach and come.
42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed 12
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands 13 will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” 14
42:10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!
Praise him 15 from the horizon of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, 16
you coastlands 17 and those who live there!
49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! 18
Pay attention, you people who live far away!
The Lord summoned me from birth; 19
he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. 20
51:5 I am ready to vindicate, 21
I am ready to deliver, 22
I will establish justice among the nations. 23
The coastlands 24 wait patiently for me;
they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. 25
59:18 He repays them for what they have done,
dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries
and punishing his enemies. 26
He repays the coastlands. 27
60:9 Indeed, the coastlands 28 look eagerly for me,
the large ships 29 are in the lead,
bringing your sons from far away,
along with their silver and gold,
to honor the Lord your God, 30
the Holy One of Israel, 31 for he has bestowed honor on you.
2:10 Go west 32 across the sea to the coasts of Cyprus 33 and see.
Send someone east to Kedar 34 and have them look carefully.
See if such a thing as this has ever happened:
2:11 The Lord will terrify them, 38
for 39 he will weaken 40 all the gods of the earth.
All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. 41
1 tn The expression “the earth was divided” may refer to dividing the land with canals, but more likely it anticipates the division of languages at Babel (Gen 11). The verb פָּלָג (palag, “separate, divide”) is used in Ps 55:9 for a division of languages.
2 sn Tarshish was a distant western port, the precise location of which is uncertain.
3 sn Sheba was located in Arabia.
4 sn Seba was located in Africa.
5 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “in the lights,” interpreted by some to mean “in the region of light,” referring to the east. Some scholars have suggested the emendation of בָּאֻרִים (ba’urim) to בְּאִיֵּי הַיָּם (bÿ’iyyey hayyam, “along the seacoasts”), a phrase that is repeated in the next line. In this case, the two lines form synonymous parallelism. If one retains the MT reading (as above), “in the east” and “along the seacoasts” depict the two ends of the earth to refer to all the earth (as a merism).
6 tn The word “extol” is supplied in the translation; the verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.
7 tn Heb “name,” which here stands for God’s reputation achieved by his mighty deeds.
8 tn Or “weighs” (NIV); NLT “picks up.”
9 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV, NLT).
10 tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”
11 tn Heb “the ends of the earth,” but this is a merism, where the earth’s extremities stand for its entirety, i.e., the extremities and everything in between them.
12 tn For rhetorical effect the terms used to describe the “crushed (רָצַץ, ratsats) reed” and “dim (כָּהָה, kahah) wick” in v. 3 are repeated here.
13 tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”
14 tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).
15 tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.
16 tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”
17 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”
18 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”
19 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”
20 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”
21 tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”
22 tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”
23 tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”
24 tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”
25 tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).
26 tn Heb “in accordance with deeds, so he repays, anger to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.”
27 tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV).
28 tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”
29 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.
30 tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”
31 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
32 tn Heb “For go west.”
33 tn Heb “pass over to the coasts of Kittim.” The words “west across the sea” in this line and “east of” in the next are implicit in the text and are supplied in the translation to give geographical orientation.
34 sn Kedar is the home of the Bedouin tribes in the Syro-Arabian desert. See Gen 25:18 and Jer 49:38. See also the previous note for the significance of the reference here.
35 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
36 sn Tyre and Sidon are mentioned within the judgment on the Philistines in Jer 47:4. They were Phoenician cities to the north and west of Judah on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in what is now Lebanon.
37 sn The connection with Tyre and Sidon suggests that these were Phoenician colonies. See also Isa 23:2.
38 tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”
39 tn Or “certainly.”
40 tn The meaning of this rare Hebrew word is unclear. If the meaning is indeed “weaken,” then this line may be referring to the reduction of these gods’ territory through conquest (see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah [AB 25A], 110-11). Cf. NEB “reduce to beggary”; NASB “starve”; NIV “when he destroys”; NRSV “shrivel.”
41 tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”