Isaiah 11:12

11:12 He will lift a signal flag for the nations;

he will gather Israel’s dispersed people ¹ 

and assemble Judah’s scattered people

from the four corners of the earth.

Isaiah 43:5-6

43:5 Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.

From the east I will bring your descendants;

from the west I will gather you.

43:6 I will say to the north, ‘Hand them over!’

and to the south, ‘Don’t hold any back!’

Bring my sons from distant lands,

and my daughters from the remote regions of the earth,

Isaiah 49:12

49:12 Look, they come from far away!

Look, some come from the north and west,

and others from the land of Sinim! ² 

Jeremiah 23:8

23:8 But at that time they will affirm them with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel ³  from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished ⁴  them.” ⁵  At that time they will live in their own land.’”

Jeremiah 30:10

30:10 So I, the Lord, tell you not to be afraid,

you descendants of Jacob, my servants. ⁶ 

Do not be terrified, people of Israel.

For I will rescue you and your descendants

from a faraway land where you are captives. ⁷ 

The descendants of Jacob will return to their land and enjoy peace.

They will be secure and no one will terrify them. ⁸ 

Jeremiah 30:16

30:16 But ⁹  all who destroyed you will be destroyed.

All your enemies will go into exile.

Those who plundered you will be plundered.

I will cause those who pillaged you to be pillaged. ¹⁰ 

Jeremiah 31:8

31:8 Then I will reply, ¹¹  ‘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.

Jeremiah 32:37

32:37 ‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled ¹²  them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

Ezekiel 34:12-13

34:12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. ¹³  34:13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land.

Ezekiel 36:24

36:24 “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land.

Ezekiel 38:8

38:8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, ¹⁴  with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people ¹⁵  were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

Zechariah 10:6-10

10:6 “I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom ¹⁶  of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph ¹⁷  and will bring them back ¹⁸  because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them. 10:7 The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the Lord. 10:8 I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before. 10:9 Though I scatter ¹⁹  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. ²⁰  I will bring them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, for there will not be enough room for them in their own land.

[11:12]  ¹ tn Or “the banished of Israel,” i.e., the exiles.

[49:12]  ² tc The MT reads “Sinim” here; the Dead Sea Scrolls read “Syene,” a location in Egypt associated with modern Aswan. A number of recent translations adopt this reading: “Syene” (NAB, NRSV); “Aswan” (NIV); “Egypt” (NLT).

[23:8]  ³ tn Heb “descendants of the house of Israel.”

[23:8]  ⁴ tc It is probably preferable to read the third masculine singular plus suffix (הִדִּיחָם, hiddikham) here with the Greek version and the parallel passage in 16:15 rather than the first singular plus suffix in the MT (הִדַּחְתִּים, hiddakhtim). If this is not a case of mere graphic confusion, the MT could have arisen under the influence of the first person in v. 3. Though sudden shifts in person have been common in the book of Jeremiah, that is unlikely in a context reporting an oath.

[23:8]  ⁵ tn This passage is the same as 16:14-15 with a few minor variations in Hebrew wording. The notes on that passage should be consulted for the rendering here. This passage has the Niphal of the verb “to say” rather than the impersonal use of the Qal. It adds the idea of “bringing out” to the idea of “bringing up out” and (Heb “who brought up and who brought out,” probably a case of hendiadys) before “the people [here “seed” rather than “children”] of Israel [here “house of Israel”] from the land of the north.” These are minor variations and do not affect the sense in any way. So the passage is rendered in much the same way.

[30:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “So do not be afraid, my servant Jacob, oracle of the Lord.” Here and elsewhere in the verse the terms Jacob and Israel are poetic for the people of Israel descended from the patriarch Jacob. The terms have been supplied throughout with plural referents for greater clarity.

[30:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “For I will rescue you from far away, your descendants from the land of their captivity.”

[30:10]  ⁸ sn Compare the ideals of the Mosaic covenant in Lev 26:6, the Davidic covenant in 2 Sam 7:10-11, and the new covenant in Ezek 34:25-31.

[30:16]  ⁹ tn For the translation of this particle, which is normally translated “therefore” and often introduces an announcement of judgment, compare the usage at Jer 16:14 and the translator’s note there. Here as there it introduces a contrast, a rather unexpected announcement of salvation. For a similar use see also Hos 2:14 (2:16 HT). Recognition of this usage makes the proposed emendation of BHS of לָכֵן כָּל (lakhen kol) to וְכָל (vÿkhol) unnecessary.

[30:16]  ¹⁰ sn With the exception of the second line there is a definite attempt at wordplay in each line to underline the principle of lex talionis on a national and political level. This principle has already been appealed to in the case of the end of Babylonian sovereignty in 25:14; 27:7.

[31:8]  ¹¹ 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.

[32:37]  ¹² tn The verb here should be interpreted as a future perfect; though some of the people have already been exiled (in 605 and 597 b.c.), some have not yet been exiled at the time this prophesy is given (see study note on v. 1 for the date). However, contemporary English style does not regularly use the future perfect, choosing instead to use the simple future or the simple perfect as the present translation has done here.

[34:12]  ¹³ sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6 b.c.

[38:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from the sword.”

[38:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “it.”

[10:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the house.”

[10:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “the kingdom of Israel”; Heb “the house of Joseph.”

[10:6]  ¹⁸ tc The anomalous MT reading וְחוֹשְׁבוֹתִים (vÿkhoshÿvotim) should probably be וַהֲשִׁי בוֹתִם (vahashi votim), the Hiphil perfect consecutive of שׁוּב (shuv), “return” (cf. Jer 12:15).

[10:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “sow” (so KJV, ASV). The imagery is taken from the sowing of seed by hand.

[10:10]  ²⁰ 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).