11:12 He will lift a signal flag for the nations;
he will gather Israel’s dispersed people 10
and assemble Judah’s scattered people
from the four corners of the earth.
41:5 The coastlands 11 see and are afraid;
the whole earth 12 trembles;
they approach and come.
42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed 13
before establishing justice on the earth;
the coastlands 14 will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” 15
42:10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!
Praise him 16 from the horizon of the earth,
you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, 17
you coastlands 18 and those who live there!
49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! 19
Pay attention, you people who live far away!
The Lord summoned me from birth; 20
he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. 21
51:5 I am ready to vindicate, 22
I am ready to deliver, 23
I will establish justice among the nations. 24
The coastlands 25 wait patiently for me;
they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. 26
60:9 Indeed, the coastlands 27 look eagerly for me,
the large ships 28 are in the lead,
bringing your sons from far away,
along with their silver and gold,
to honor the Lord your God, 29
the Holy One of Israel, 30 for he has bestowed honor on you.
2:11 The Lord will terrify them, 35
for 36 he will weaken 37 all the gods of the earth.
All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. 38
1 tn Or “in that day” (KJV). The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.
2 tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).
3 tc The Hebrew text reads, “the sovereign master will again, a second time, his hand.” The auxiliary verb יוֹסִיף (yosif), which literally means “add,” needs a main verb to complete it. Consequently many emend שֵׁנִית (shenit, “a second time”) to an infinitive. Some propose the form שַׁנֹּת (shannot, a Piel infinitive construct from שָׁנָה, shanah) and relate it semantically to an Arabic cognate meaning “to be high.” If the Hebrew text is retained a verb must be supplied. “Second time” would allude back to the events of the Exodus (see vv. 15-16).
4 tn Or “acquire”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “recover.”
5 tn Heb “the remnant of his people who remain.”
6 sn Perhaps a reference to Upper (i.e., southern) Egypt (so NIV, NLT; NCV “South Egypt”).
7 tn Or “Ethiopia” (NAB, NRSV, NLT).
8 tn Or “Babylonia” (NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).
9 tn Or perhaps, “the islands of the sea.”
10 tn Or “the banished of Israel,” i.e., the exiles.
11 tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”
12 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.
13 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.
14 tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”
15 tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).
16 tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.
17 tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”
18 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”
19 tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”
20 tn Heb “called me from the womb.”
21 tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”
22 tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”
23 tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”
24 tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”
25 tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”
26 tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).
27 tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”
28 tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.
29 tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”
30 sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.
31 sn The descendants of Elishah populated Cyprus.
32 sn The descendants of Tarshish settled along the southern coast of what is modern Turkey. However, some identify the site Tarshish (see Jonah 1:3) with Sardinia or Spain.
33 sn The name Kittim is associated with Cyprus, as well as coastlands east of Rhodes. It is used in later texts to refer to the Romans.
34 tc Most of the MT
35 tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”
36 tn Or “certainly.”
37 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.”
38 tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”
39 tn Or “sow” (so KJV, ASV). The imagery is taken from the sowing of seed by hand.
40 sn I will bring them back from Egypt…from Assyria. The gathering of God’s people to their land in eschatological times will be like a reenactment of the exodus, but this time they will come from all over the world (cf. Isa 40:3-5; 43:1-7, 14-21; 48:20-22; 51:9-11).
41 tn Heb “he,” in which case the referent is the
42 tn Heb “scepter,” referring by metonymy to the dominating rule of Egypt (cf. NLT).
43 tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the
44 tc The LXX and Syriac presuppose יִתְהַלָּלוּ (yithallalu, “they will glory”) for יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yithallÿkhu, “they will walk about”). Since walking about is a common idiom in Zechariah (cf. 1:10, 11; 6:7 [3x]) to speak of dominion, and dominion is a major theme of the present passage, there is no reason to reject the MT reading, which is followed by most modern English versions.
45 sn My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the