Isaiah 26:15

26:15 You have made the nation larger, ¹  O Lord,

you have made the nation larger and revealed your splendor, ² 

you have extended all the borders of the land.

Isaiah 49:20-22

49:20 Yet the children born during your time of bereavement

will say within your hearing,

‘This place is too cramped for us, ³ 

make room for us so we can live here.’ ⁴ 

49:21 Then you will think to yourself, ⁵ 

‘Who bore these children for me?

I was bereaved and barren,

dismissed and divorced. ⁶ 

Who raised these children?

Look, I was left all alone;

where did these children come from?’”

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

Nehemiah 9:23

9:23 You multiplied their descendants like the stars of the sky. You brought them to the land you had told their ancestors to enter in order to possess.

Psalms 107:38

107:38 He blessed ⁷  them so that they became very numerous.

He would not allow their cattle to decrease in number. ⁸ 

Hosea 4:7

4:7 The more the priests increased in numbers,

the more they rebelled against me.

They have turned ⁹  their glorious calling

into a shameful disgrace!

Zechariah 2:11

2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, ¹⁰  and they will also be my ¹¹  people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you.

Zechariah 8:23

8:23 The Lord who rules over all says, ‘In those days ten people from all languages and nations will grasp hold of – indeed, grab – the robe of one Jew and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’” ¹² 

Zechariah 10:8

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.

[26:15]  ¹ tn Heb “you have added to the nation.” The last line of the verse suggests that geographical expansion is in view. “The nation” is Judah.

[26:15]  ² tn Or “brought honor to yourself.”

[49:20]  ³ tn Heb “me.” The singular is collective.

[49:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “draw near to me so I can dwell.”

[49:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you will say in your heart.”

[49:21]  ⁶ tn Or “exiled and thrust away”; NIV “exiled and rejected.”

[107:38]  ⁷ tn “Bless” here carries the nuance “endue with sexual potency, make fertile.” See Gen 1:28, where the statement “he blessed them” directly precedes the command “be fruitful and populate the earth” (see also 1:22). The verb “bless” carries this same nuance in Gen 17:16 (where God’s blessing of Sarai imparts to her the capacity to bear a child); 48:16 (where God’s blessing of Joseph’s sons is closely associated with their having numerous descendants); and Deut 7:13 (where God’s blessing is associated with fertility in general, including numerous descendants). See also Gen 49:25 (where Jacob uses the noun derivative in referring to “blessings of the breast and womb,” an obvious reference to fertility) and Gen 27:27 (where the verb is used of a field to which God has given the capacity to produce vegetation).

[107:38]  ⁸ tn The verbal form in this line appears to be an imperfect, which may be taken as customary (drawing attention to typical action in a past time frame) or as generalizing (in which case one should use the English present tense, understanding a move from narrative to present reality).

[4:7]  ⁹ tc The MT reads אָמִיר (’amir, “I will change, exchange”; Hiphil imperfect 1st person common singular from מוּר, mur, “to change, exchange”). However, an alternate scribal tradition (tiqquneh sopherim, that is, an intentional scribal change when the Masoretes believed that the received consonantal reading was corrupt) preserves the reading הֵמִירוּ (hemiru, “they have exchanged”; Hiphil perfect 3rd person common plural from מוּר). This alternate scribal tradition is also found in the Targum and reflected in the Syriac Peshitta. Several translations follow the MT: KJV, RSV, NASB “I will change their glory into shame” and TEV “I will turn your honor into disgrace”; however, others adopt the alternate tradition: NRSV “they changed their glory into shame” and NIV “they exchanged their Glory for something disgraceful.” For discussion in favor of the MT reading, see D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 5:232.

[2:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “on that day.” The descriptive phrase “of salvation” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[2:11]  ¹¹ tc The LXX and Syriac have the 3rd person masculine singular suffix in both places (“his people” and “he will settle”; cf. NAB, TEV) in order to avoid the Lord’s speaking of himself in the third person. Such resort is unnecessary, however, in light of the common shifting of person in Hebrew narrative (cf. 3:2).

[8:23]  ¹² sn This scene of universal and overwhelming attraction of the nations to Israel’s God finds initial fulfillment in the establishment of the church (Acts 2:5-11) but ultimate completion in the messianic age (Isa 45:14, 24; 60:14; Zech 14:16-21).