Jeremiah 31:8

31:8 Then I will reply, ¹  ‘I will bring them back from the land of the north.

I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth.

Blind and lame people will come with them,

so will pregnant women and women about to give birth.

A vast throng of people will come back here.

Ezekiel 34:16

34:16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them – with judgment!

Micah 4:6-7

Restoration Will Follow Crisis

4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,

and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. ² 

4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, ³ 

and those far off ⁴  into a mighty nation.

The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,

from that day forward and forevermore.” ⁵ 

Hebrews 12:13

12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, ⁶  so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

¹ tn The words “And I will reply” are not in the text but the words vv. 8-9 appear to be the answer to the petition at the end of v. 7. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

² sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.

³ tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”

⁴ tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).

⁵ tn Heb “from now until forever.”

⁶ sn A quotation from Prov 4:26. The phrase make straight paths for your feet is figurative for “stay on God’s paths.”