Isaiah 11:11-12

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 

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.

Isaiah 41:5

41:5 The coastlands ¹¹  see and are afraid;

the whole earth ¹²  trembles;

they approach and come.

Isaiah 42:4

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 

Isaiah 42:10

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!

Isaiah 49:1

Ideal Israel Delivers the Exiles

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 

Isaiah 51:5

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 

Isaiah 60:9

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.

Genesis 10:4-5

10:4 The sons of Javan were Elishah, ³¹  Tarshish, ³²  the Kittim, ³³  and the Dodanim. ³⁴  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.

Zephaniah 2:11

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 

Zechariah 10:9-12

10:9 Though I scatter ³⁹  them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places – they and their children will sprout forth and return. 10:10 I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. ⁴⁰  I will bring them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, for there will not be enough room for them in their own land. 10:11 The Lord ⁴¹  will cross the sea of storms and will calm its turbulence. The depths of the Nile will dry up, the pride of Assyria will be humbled, and the domination ⁴²  of Egypt will be no more. 10:12 Thus I will strengthen them by my power, ⁴³  and they will walk about ⁴⁴  in my name,” says the Lord.

Malachi 1:11

1:11 For from the east to the west my name will be great among the nations. Incense and pure offerings will be offered in my name everywhere, for my name will be great among the nations,” ⁴⁵  says the Lord who rules over all.

[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.”

[11:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “the banished of Israel,” i.e., the exiles.

[41:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “islands” (NIV, CEV); NCV “faraway places”; NLT “lands beyond the sea.”

[41:5]  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.

[42:4]  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.

[42:4]  ¹⁴ tn Or “islands” (NIV); NLT “distant lands beyond the sea.”

[42:4]  ¹⁵ tn Or “his law” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NIV) or “his instruction” (NLT).

[42:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “his praise.” The phrase stands parallel to “new song” in the previous line.

[42:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and its fullness”; NASB, NIV “and all that is in it.”

[42:10]  ¹⁸ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “distant coastlands.”

[49:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “islands” (NASB, NIV); NLT “in far-off lands.”

[49:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “called me from the womb.”

[49:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “from the inner parts of my mother he mentioned my name.”

[51:5]  ²² tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ²³ tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ²⁵ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[60:9]  ²⁷ tn Or “islands” (NIV); CEV “distant islands”; TEV “distant lands.”

[60:9]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” See the note at 2:16.

[60:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to the name of the Lord your God.”

[60:9]  ³⁰ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:4]  ³¹ sn The descendants of Elishah populated Cyprus.

[10:4]  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.

[10:4]  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.

[10:4]  ³⁴ tc Most of the MT mss read “Dodanim” here, but 1 Chr 1:7 has “Rodanim,” perhaps referring to the island of Rhodes. But the Qere reading in 1 Chr 1:7 suggests “Dodanim.” Dodona is one of the most ancient and revered spots in ancient Greece.

[2:11]  ³⁵ tn Heb “will be awesome over [or, “against”] them.”

[2:11]  ³⁶ tn Or “certainly.”

[2:11]  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.”

[2:11]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and all the coastlands of the nations will worship [or, “bow down”] to him, each from his own place.”

[10:9]  ³⁹ tn Or “sow” (so KJV, ASV). The imagery is taken from the sowing of seed by hand.

[10:10]  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).

[10:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he,” in which case the referent is the Lord. This reading is followed by KJV, ASV, NAB (which renders it as first person), and NASB. The LXX reads “they,” referring to the Israelites themselves, a reading followed by many modern English versions (e.g., NIV, NRSV, TEV, NLT).

[10:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “scepter,” referring by metonymy to the dominating rule of Egypt (cf. NLT).

[10:12]  ⁴³ tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the Lord.” Because of the perceived problem of the Lord saying he will strengthen the people “in the Lord,” both BHK and BHS suggest emending גִּבַּרְתִּים (gibbartim, “I will strengthen them”) to גְּבֻרָתָם (gevuratam, “their strength”). This is unnecessary, however, for the Lord frequently refers to himself in that manner (see Zech 2:11).

[10:12]  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.

[1:11]  ⁴⁵ sn My name will be great among the nations. In what is clearly a strongly ironic shift of thought, the Lord contrasts the unbelief and virtual paganism of the postexilic community with the conversion and obedience of the nations that will one day worship the God of Israel.