Ezekiel 36:33

36:33 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt.

Isaiah 51:3

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to ¹  her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

Isaiah 52:9

52:9 In unison give a joyful shout,

O ruins of Jerusalem!

For the Lord consoles his people;

he protects ²  Jerusalem.

Isaiah 58:12

58:12 Your perpetual ruins will be rebuilt; ³ 

you will reestablish the ancient foundations.

You will be called, ‘The one who repairs broken walls,

the one who makes the streets inhabitable again.’ ⁴ 

Isaiah 61:4

61:4 They will rebuild the perpetual ruins

and restore the places that were desolate; ⁵ 

they will reestablish the ruined cities,

the places that have been desolate since ancient times.

Jeremiah 31:10-14

31:10 Hear what the Lord has to say, O nations.

Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea.

Say, “The one who scattered Israel will regather them.

He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.”

31:11 For the Lord will rescue the descendants of Jacob.

He will secure their release ⁶  from those who had overpowered them. ⁷ 

31:12 They will come and shout for joy on Mount Zion.

They will be radiant with joy ⁸  over the good things the Lord provides,

the grain, the fresh wine, the olive oil,

the young sheep and calves he has given to them.

They will be like a well-watered garden

and will not grow faint or weary any more.

31:13 The Lord says, ⁹  “At that time young women will dance and be glad.

Young men and old men will rejoice. ¹⁰ 

I will turn their grief into gladness.

I will give them comfort and joy in place of their sorrow.

31:14 I will provide the priests with abundant provisions. ¹¹ 

My people will be filled to the full with the good things I provide.”

Amos 9:14

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ¹² 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ¹³  and settle down. ¹⁴ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ¹⁵ 

they will grow orchards ¹⁶  and eat the fruit they produce. ¹⁷ 

[51:3]  ¹ tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[52:9]  ² tn Or “redeems.” See the note at 41:14.

[58:12]  ³ tn Heb “and they will build from you ancient ruins.”

[58:12]  ⁴ tc The Hebrew text has “the one who restores paths for dwelling.” The idea of “paths to dwell in” is not a common notion. Some have proposed emending נְתִיבוֹת (nÿtivot, “paths”) to נְתִיצוֹת (nÿtitsot, “ruins”), a passive participle from נָתַץ (natats, “tear down”; see HALOT 732 s.v. *נְתִיצָה), because tighter parallelism with the preceding line is achieved. However, none of the textual sources support this emendation. The line may mean that paths must be repaired in order to dwell in the land.

[61:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the formerly desolate places they will raise up.”

[31:11]  ⁶ sn Two rather theologically significant metaphors are used in this verse. The Hebrew word translated “will set…free” is a word used in the legal sphere for paying a redemption price to secure the freedom of a person or thing (see, e.g., Exod 13:13, 15). It is used metaphorically and theologically to refer to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Deut 15:15; Mic 6:4) and its deliverance from Babylonian exile (Isa 35:10). The word translated “secure their release” is a word used in the sphere of family responsibility where a person paid the price to free an indentured relative (Lev 25:48, 49) or paid the price to restore a relative’s property seized to pay a debt (Lev 25:25, 33). This word, too, was used to refer metaphorically and theologically to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Exod 6:6) or release from Babylonian exile (Isa 43:1-4; 44:22). These words are traditionally translated “ransom” and “redeem” and are a part of traditional Jewish and Christian vocabulary for physical and spiritual deliverance.

[31:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the hand/power of the one too strong for him.”

[31:12]  ⁸ tn Reading a Qal perfect from the root II נָהַר (nahar; so KBL 509 s.v. and HALOT 639 s.v.) rather than I נָהַר (so BDB 625 s.v.).

[31:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.” This phrase has been brought up to the beginning of v. 13 from the end of v. 14 to introduce the transition from third person description by Jeremiah to first person address by the Lord.

[31:13]  ¹⁰ tc The translation follows the reading of the LXX (Greek version). The Hebrew reads “will dance and be glad, young men and old men together.” The Greek version presupposes a Qal imperfect of a rare verb (יַחְדּוּ [yakhdu] from the verb חָדָה [khadah]; see BDB 292 s.v. II חָדָה Qal) as opposed to the Hebrew text which reads a common adverb יַחְדָּו (yakhdav). The consonantal text is the same but the vocalization is different. There are no other examples of the syntax of the adverb used this way (i.e., of a compound subject added to a third subject) and the vocalization of the Hebrew text can be explained on the basis of a scribe misvocalizing the text based on his greater familiarity with the adverb.

[31:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will satiate the priests with fat.” However, the word translated “fat” refers literally to the fat ashes of the sacrifices (see Lev 1:16; 4:2 and cf. BDB 206 s.v. דֶּשֶׁן 2. The word is used more abstractly for “abundance” or “rich food” (see Job 36:16 and BDB 206 s.v. דֶּשֶׁן 1). The people and the priests were prohibited from eating the fat (Lev 7:23-24).

[9:14]  ¹² tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).

[9:14]  ¹³ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ¹⁴ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ¹⁶ tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”