Genesis 10:5

10:5 From these the coastlands of the nations were separated into their lands, every one according to its language, according to their families, by their nations.

Isaiah 11:11

11:11 At that time ¹  the sovereign master ²  will again lift his hand ³  to reclaim ⁴  the remnant of his people ⁵  from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, ⁶  Cush, ⁷  Elam, Shinar, ⁸  Hamath, and the seacoasts. ⁹ 

Isaiah 24:14-16

24:14 They ¹⁰  lift their voices and shout joyfully;

they praise ¹¹  the majesty of the Lord in the west.

24:15 So in the east ¹²  extol the Lord,

along the seacoasts extol ¹³  the fame ¹⁴  of the Lord God of Israel.

24:16 From the ends of the earth we ¹⁵  hear songs –

the Just One is majestic. ¹⁶ 

But I ¹⁷  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!

Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ¹⁸ 

Isaiah 41:5

41:5 The coastlands ¹⁹  see and are afraid;

the whole earth ²⁰  trembles;

they approach and come.

Isaiah 42:4

42:4 He will not grow dim or be crushed ²¹ 

before establishing justice on the earth;

the coastlands ²²  will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” ²³ 

Isaiah 42:10-12

42:10 Sing to the Lord a brand new song!

Praise him ²⁴  from the horizon of the earth,

you who go down to the sea, and everything that lives in it, ²⁵ 

you coastlands ²⁶  and those who live there!

42:11 Let the desert and its cities shout out,

the towns where the nomads of Kedar live!

Let the residents of Sela shout joyfully;

let them shout loudly from the mountaintops.

42:12 Let them give the Lord the honor he deserves; ²⁷ 

let them praise his deeds in the coastlands. ²⁸ 

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

49:1 Listen to me, you coastlands! ²⁹ 

Pay attention, you people who live far away!

The Lord summoned me from birth; ³⁰ 

he commissioned me when my mother brought me into the world. ³¹ 

Isaiah 51:5

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ³² 

I am ready to deliver, ³³ 

I will establish justice among the nations. ³⁴ 

The coastlands ³⁵  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ³⁶ 

Isaiah 60:9

60:9 Indeed, the coastlands ³⁷  look eagerly for me,

the large ships ³⁸  are in the lead,

bringing your sons from far away,

along with their silver and gold,

to honor the Lord your God, ³⁹ 

the Holy One of Israel, ⁴⁰  for he has bestowed honor on you.

Isaiah 66:19

66:19 I will perform a mighty act among them ⁴¹  and then send some of those who remain to the nations – to Tarshish, Pul, ⁴²  Lud ⁴³  (known for its archers ⁴⁴ ), Tubal, Javan, ⁴⁵  and to the distant coastlands ⁴⁶  that have not heard about me or seen my splendor. They will tell the nations of my splendor.

Zephaniah 2:11

2:11 The Lord will terrify them, ⁴⁷ 

for ⁴⁸  he will weaken ⁴⁹  all the gods of the earth.

All the distant nations will worship the Lord in their own lands. ⁵⁰ 

[11:11]  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.

[11:11]  ² tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[11:11]  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).

[11:11]  ⁴ tn Or “acquire”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “recover.”

[11:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “the remnant of his people who remain.”

[11:11]  ⁶ sn Perhaps a reference to Upper (i.e., southern) Egypt (so NIV, NLT; NCV “South Egypt”).

[11:11]  ⁷ tn Or “Ethiopia” (NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[11:11]  ⁸ tn Or “Babylonia” (NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[11:11]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps, “the islands of the sea.”

[24:14]  ¹⁰ sn The remnant of the nations (see v. 13) may be the unspecified subject. If so, then those who have survived the judgment begin to praise God.

[24:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they yell out concerning.”

[24:15]  ¹² 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).

[24:15]  ¹³ tn The word “extol” is supplied in the translation; the verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[24:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “name,” which here stands for God’s reputation achieved by his mighty deeds.

[24:16]  ¹⁵ sn The identity of the subject is unclear. Apparently in vv. 15-16a an unidentified group responds to the praise they hear in the west by exhorting others to participate.

[24:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Beauty belongs to the just one.” These words may summarize the main theme of the songs mentioned in the preceding line.

[24:16]  ¹⁷ sn The prophet seems to contradict what he hears the group saying. Their words are premature because more destruction is coming.

[24:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and [with] deception deceivers deceive.”

[41:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:5]  ²⁰ 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.

[42:4]  ²¹ 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.

[42:4]  ²² tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”

[42:4]  ²³ tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).

[42:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.

[42:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”

[42:10]  ²⁶ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”

[42:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Let them ascribe to the Lord glory.”

[42:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and his praise in the coastlands [or “islands”] let them declare.”

[49:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[51:5]  ³² tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ³³ tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ³⁵ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[60:9]  ³⁷ tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”

[60:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.

[60:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”

[60:9]  ⁴⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[66:19]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and I will set a sign among them.” The precise meaning of this statement is unclear. Elsewhere “to set a sign” means “perform a mighty act” (Ps 78:43; Jer 32:20), “make [someone] an object lesson” (Ezek 14:8), and “erect a [literal] standard” (Ps 74:4).

[66:19]  ⁴² tn Some prefer to read “Put” (i.e., Libya).

[66:19]  ⁴³ sn That is, Lydia (in Asia Minor).

[66:19]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “drawers of the bow” (KJV and ASV both similar).

[66:19]  ⁴⁵ sn Javan is generally identified today as Greece (so NIV, NCV, NLT).

[66:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “islands” (NIV).

[2:11]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  ⁴⁹ 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.”

[2:11]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”