Isaiah 42:4

42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed ¹ 

before establishing justice on the earth;

the coastlands ²  will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” ³ 

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ⁴ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ⁵ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ⁶ 

Isaiah 60:9

60:9 Indeed, the coastlands ⁷  look eagerly for me,

the large ships ⁸  are in the lead,

bringing your sons from far away,

along with their silver and gold,

to honor the Lord your God, ⁹ 

the Holy One of Israel, ¹⁰  for he has bestowed honor on you.

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ¹¹ 

for ¹²  he will weaken ¹³  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ¹⁴ 

Romans 1:16

The Power of the Gospel

1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is God’s power for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. ¹⁵ 

Romans 15:9-12

15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. ¹⁶  As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” ¹⁷  15:10 And again it says: “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.” ¹⁸  15:11 And again, “Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples praise him.” ¹⁹  15:12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, and the one who rises to rule over the Gentiles, in him will the Gentiles hope.” ²⁰ 

¹ 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.

² tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”

³ tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).

⁴ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

⁵ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

⁶ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

⁷ tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”

⁸ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.

⁹ tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”

¹⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

¹¹ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

¹² tn Or “certainly.”

¹³ 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.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

¹⁵ sn Here the Greek refers to anyone who is not Jewish.

¹⁶ tn There are two major syntactical alternatives which are both awkward: (1) One could make “glorify” dependent on “Christ has become a minister” and coordinate with “to confirm” and the result would be rendered “Christ has become a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises…and so that the Gentiles might glorify God.” (2) One could make “glorify” dependent on “I tell you” and coordinate with “Christ has become a minister” and the result would be rendered “I tell you that Christ has become a minister of circumcision…and that the Gentiles glorify God.” The second rendering is preferred.

¹⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 18:49.

¹⁸ sn A quotation from Deut 32:43.

¹⁹ sn A quotation from Ps 117:1.

²⁰ sn A quotation from Isa 11:10.