Isaiah 11:11-16

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.

11:13 Ephraim’s jealousy will end, ¹¹ 

and Judah’s hostility ¹²  will be eliminated.

Ephraim will no longer be jealous of Judah,

and Judah will no longer be hostile toward Ephraim.

11:14 They will swoop down ¹³  on the Philistine hills to the west; ¹⁴ 

together they will loot the people of the east.

They will take over Edom and Moab, ¹⁵ 

and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

11:15 The Lord will divide ¹⁶  the gulf ¹⁷  of the Egyptian Sea; ¹⁸ 

he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ¹⁹  and send a strong wind, ²⁰ 

he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ²¹ 

and enable them to walk across in their sandals.

11:16 There will be a highway leading out of Assyria

for the remnant of his people, ²² 

just as there was for Israel,

when ²³  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Isaiah 24:13-16

24:13 This is what will happen throughout ²⁴  the earth,

among the nations.

It will be like when they beat an olive tree,

and just a few olives are left at the end of the harvest. ²⁵ 

24:14 They ²⁶  lift their voices and shout joyfully;

they praise ²⁷  the majesty of the Lord in the west.

24:15 So in the east ²⁸  extol the Lord,

along the seacoasts extol ²⁹  the fame ³⁰  of the Lord God of Israel.

24:16 From the ends of the earth we ³¹  hear songs –

the Just One is majestic. ³² 

But I ³³  say, “I’m wasting away! I’m wasting away! I’m doomed!

Deceivers deceive, deceivers thoroughly deceive!” ³⁴ 

Isaiah 56:8

56:8 The sovereign Lord says this,

the one who gathers the dispersed of Israel:

“I will still gather them up.” ³⁵ 

Genesis 15:18

15:18 That day the Lord made a covenant ³⁶  with Abram: “To your descendants I give ³⁷  this land, from the river of Egypt ³⁸  to the great river, the Euphrates River –

Psalms 68:22

68:22 The Lord says,

“I will retrieve them ³⁹  from Bashan,

I will bring them back from the depths of the sea,

Psalms 72:8

72:8 May he rule ⁴⁰  from sea to sea, ⁴¹ 

and from the Euphrates River ⁴²  to the ends of the earth!

[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.

[11:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “turn aside”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “depart.”

[11:13]  ¹² tn Heb “hostile ones of Judah.” Elsewhere when the substantival participle of צָרָר (tsarar) takes a pronominal suffix or appears in a construct relationship, the following genitive is objective. (For a list of texts see BDB 865 s.v. III צָרַר) In this case the phrase “hostile ones of Judah” means “those who are hostile toward Judah,” i.e., Judah’s enemies. However, the parallel couplet that follows suggests that Judah’s hostility toward Ephraim is in view. In this case “hostile ones of Judah” means “hostile ones from Judah.” The translation above assumes the latter, giving the immediate context priority over general usage.

[11:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “fly.” Ephraim/Judah are compared to a bird of prey.

[11:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “on the shoulder of Philistia toward the sea.” This refers to the slopes of the hill country west of Judah. See HALOT 506 s.v. כָּתֵף.

[11:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Edom and Moab [will be the place of] the outstretching of their hand,” i.e., included in their area of jurisdiction (see HALOT 648 s.v. ח(וֹ)מִשְׁלֹ).

[11:15]  ¹⁶ tn The verb is usually understood as “put under the ban, destroy,” or emended to חָרָב (kharav, “dry up”). However, HALOT 354 s.v. II חרם proposes a homonymic root meaning “divide.”

[11:15]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “tongue” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[11:15]  ¹⁸ sn That is, the Red Sea.

[11:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the river”; capitalized in some English versions (e.g., ASV, NASB, NRSV) as a reference to the Euphrates River.

[11:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “with the [?] of his wind” [or “breath”]. The Hebrew term עַיָם (’ayam) occurs only here. Some attempt to relate the word to an Arabic root and translate, “scorching [or “hot”] wind.” This interpretation fits especially well if one reads “dry up” in the previous line. Others prefer to emend the form to עֹצֶם (’otsem, “strong”). See HALOT 817 s.v. עֲצַם.

[11:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “seven streams.” The Hebrew term נַחַל (nakhal, “stream”) refers to a wadi, or seasonal stream, which runs during the rainy season, but is otherwise dry. The context (see v. 15b) here favors the translation, “dried up streams.” The number seven suggests totality and completeness. Here it indicates that God’s provision for escape will be thorough and more than capable of accommodating the returning exiles.

[11:16]  ²² tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ²³ tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[24:13]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of” (so KJV, ASV, NASB).

[24:13]  ²⁵ sn The judgment will severely reduce the earth’s population. See v. 6.

[24:14]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ tn Heb “they yell out concerning.”

[24:15]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn The word “extol” is supplied in the translation; the verb in the first line does double duty in the parallelism.

[24:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “name,” which here stands for God’s reputation achieved by his mighty deeds.

[24:16]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ sn The prophet seems to contradict what he hears the group saying. Their words are premature because more destruction is coming.

[24:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and [with] deception deceivers deceive.”

[56:8]  ³⁵ tn The meaning of the statement is unclear. The text reads literally, “Still I will gather upon him to his gathered ones.” Perhaps the preposition -לְ (lamed) before “gathered ones” introduces the object of the verb, as in Jer 49:5. The third masculine singular suffix on both עָלָיו (’alayv) and נִקְבָּצָיו (niqbatsayv) probably refers to “Israel.” In this case one can translate literally, “Still I will gather to him his gathered ones.”

[15:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[15:18]  ³⁷ tn The perfect verbal form is understood as instantaneous (“I here and now give”). Another option is to understand it as rhetorical, indicating certitude (“I have given” meaning it is as good as done, i.e., “I will surely give”).

[15:18]  ³⁸ sn The river of Egypt is a wadi (a seasonal stream) on the northeastern border of Egypt, not to the River Nile.

[68:22]  ³⁹ tn That is, the enemies mentioned in v. 21. Even if they retreat to distant regions, God will retrieve them and make them taste his judgment.

[72:8]  ⁴⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is a (shortened) jussive form, indicating this is a prayer of blessing.

[72:8]  ⁴¹ sn From sea to sea. This may mean from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east. See Amos 8:12. The language of this and the following line also appears in Zech 9:10.

[72:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “the river,” a reference to the Euphrates.