Isaiah 32:15

32:15 This desolation will continue until new life is poured out on us from heaven. ¹ 

Then the desert will become an orchard

and the orchard will be considered a forest. ² 

Isaiah 35:1-2

The Land and Its People Are Transformed

35:1 Let the desert and dry region be happy; ³ 

let the wilderness ⁴  rejoice and bloom like a lily!

35:2 Let it richly bloom; ⁵ 

let it rejoice and shout with delight! ⁶ 

It is given the grandeur ⁷  of Lebanon,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the grandeur of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

Isaiah 41:19

41:19 I will make cedars, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees grow in the wilderness;

I will make evergreens, firs, and cypresses grow together in the desert.

Isaiah 49:5-6

49:5 So now the Lord says,

the one who formed me from birth ⁸  to be his servant –

he did this ⁹  to restore Jacob to himself,

so that Israel might be gathered to him;

and I will be honored ¹⁰  in the Lord’s sight,

for my God is my source of strength ¹¹  –

49:6 he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant,

to reestablish the tribes of Jacob,

and restore the remnant ¹²  of Israel? ¹³ 

I will make you a light to the nations, ¹⁴ 

so you can bring ¹⁵  my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.”

Isaiah 55:13

55:13 Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes,

firs will grow in place of nettles;

they will be a monument to the Lord, ¹⁶ 

a permanent reminder that will remain. ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 65:12-16

65:12 I predestine you to die by the sword, ¹⁸ 

all of you will kneel down at the slaughtering block, ¹⁹ 

because I called to you, and you did not respond,

I spoke and you did not listen.

You did evil before me; ²⁰ 

you chose to do what displeases me.”

65:13 So this is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look, my servants will eat, but you will be hungry!

Look, my servants will drink, but you will be thirsty!

Look, my servants will rejoice, but you will be humiliated!

65:14 Look, my servants will shout for joy as happiness fills their hearts! ²¹ 

But you will cry out as sorrow fills your hearts; ²² 

you will wail because your spirits will be crushed. ²³ 

65:15 Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. ²⁴ 

The sovereign Lord will kill you,

but he will give his servants another name.

65:16 Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth ²⁵ 

will do so in the name of the faithful God; ²⁶ 

whoever makes an oath in the earth

will do so in the name of the faithful God. ²⁷ 

For past problems will be forgotten;

I will no longer think about them. ²⁸ 

Hosea 1:9-10

1:9 Then the Lord ²⁹  said: “Name him ‘Not My People’ (Lo-Ammi), because you ³⁰  are not my people and I am not your ³¹  God.” ³² 

The Restoration of Israel

1:10 (2:1) ³³  However, ³⁴  in the future the number of the people ³⁵  of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although ³⁶  it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are ³⁷  children ³⁸  of the living God!”

Matthew 19:30

19:30 But many who are first will be last, and the last first.

Matthew 21:43

21:43 For this reason I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a people ³⁹  who will produce its fruit.

Romans 11:11-17

11:11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, ⁴⁰  did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel ⁴¹  jealous. 11:12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration ⁴²  bring?

11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 11:14 if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. 11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 11:16 If the first portion ⁴³  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ⁴⁴ 

11:17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in ⁴⁵  the richness of the olive root,

[32:15]  ¹ tn Heb “until a spirit is emptied out on us from on high.” The words “this desolation will continue” are supplied in the translation for clarification and stylistic purposes. The verb עָרָה (’arah), used here in the Niphal, normally means “lay bare, expose.” The term רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) is often understood here as a reference to the divine spirit (cf. 44:3 and NASB, NIV, CEV, NLT), but it appears here without an article (cf. NRSV “a spirit”), pronominal suffix, or a genitive (such as “of the Lord”). The translation assumes that it carries an impersonal nuance “vivacity, vigor” in this context.

[32:15]  ² sn The same statement appears in 29:17b, where, in conjunction with the preceding line, it appears to picture a reversal. Here it seems to depict supernatural growth. The desert will blossom into an orchard, and the trees of the orchard will multiply and grow tall, becoming a forest.

[35:1]  ³ tn The final mem (ם) on the verb יְשֻׂשׂוּם (yÿsusum) is dittographic (note the initial mem on the following noun מִדְבָּר [midbar]). The ambiguous verbal form is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel). The jussive is used rhetorically here, not as a literal command or prayer.

[35:1]  ⁴ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); NAB, NIV, TEV “desert.”

[35:2]  ⁵ tn The ambiguous verb form תִּפְרַח (tifrakh) is translated as a jussive because it is parallel to the jussive form תָגֵל (tagel).

[35:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and let it rejoice, yes [with] rejoicing and shouting.” גִּילַת (gilat) may be an archaic feminine nominal form (see GKC 421 §130.b).

[35:2]  ⁷ tn Or “glory” (KJV, NIV, NRSV); also a second time later in this verse.

[49:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the womb” (so KJV, NASB).

[49:5]  ⁹ tn The words “he did this” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct of purpose is subordinated to the previous statement.

[49:5]  ¹⁰ tn The vav (ו) + imperfect is translated here as a result clause; one might interpret it as indicating purpose, “and so I might be honored.”

[49:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and my God is [perhaps, “having been”] my strength.” The disjunctive structure (vav [ו] + subject + verb) is interpreted here as indicating a causal circumstantial clause.

[49:6]  ¹² tn Heb “the protected [or “preserved”] ones.”

[49:6]  ¹³ sn The question is purely rhetorical; it does not imply that the servant was dissatisfied with his commission or that he minimized the restoration of Israel.

[49:6]  ¹⁴ tn See the note at 42:6.

[49:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “be” (so KJV, ASV); CEV “you must take.”

[55:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to the Lord for a name.” For שֵׁם (shem) used in the sense of “monument,” see also 56:5, where it stands parallel to יָד (yad).

[55:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or, more literally, “a permanent sign that will not be cut off.”

[65:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I assign you to the sword.” Some emend the Qal verb form מָנִיתִי (maniti, “I assign”) to the Piel מִנִּיתִי (minniti, “ I ordain”). The verb sounds like the name of the god Meni (מְנִי, mÿni, “Destiny, Fate”). The sound play draws attention to the irony of the statement. The sinners among God’s people worship the god Meni, apparently in an effort to ensure a bright destiny for themselves. But the Lord is the one who really determines their destiny and he has decreed their demise.

[65:12]  ¹⁹ tn Or “at the slaughter”; NIV “for the slaughter”; NLT “before the executioner.”

[65:12]  ²⁰ tn Heb “that which is evil in my eyes.”

[65:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “from the good of the heart.”

[65:14]  ²² tn Heb “from the pain of the heart.”

[65:14]  ²³ tn Heb “from the breaking of the spirit.”

[65:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “you will leave your name for an oath to my chosen ones.”

[65:16]  ²⁵ tn Or “in the land” (NIV, NCV, NRSV). The same phrase occurs again later in this verse, with the same options.

[65:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “will pronounce a blessing by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “will take an oath by the God of truth.”

[65:16]  ²⁸ tn Heb “for the former distresses will be forgotten, and they will be hidden from my eyes.”

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “Then he said”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity. As in v. 6, many English versions specify the speaker here.

[1:9]  ³⁰ tn The independent personal pronoun אַתֶּם (’attem, “you”) is a plural form, referring to the people of Israel as a whole. To make this clear TEV translates this as third person: “the people of Israel are not my people” (cf. CEV, NLT).

[1:9]  ³¹ tn The pronominal suffix on the preposition לָכֶם (lakhem, “your”) is a plural form, referring to the people of Israel as a whole.

[1:9]  ³² tc The MT reads לֹא־אֶהְיֶה לָכֶם (lo’-’ehyeh lakhem, “I will not be yours”). The editors of BHS suggest emending the text to לֹא־אֱלֹהֵיכֶם (lo’-’elohekhem, “I will not be your God”). The emendation creates a tighter parallel with the preceding אַתֶּם לֹא עַמִּי (’attem lo’ ’ammi, “you are not my people”). Because of a lack of external evidence, however, the reading of the MT should be retained.

[1:10]  ³³ sn Beginning with 1:10, the verse numbers through 2:23 in the English Bible differ by two from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:10 ET = 2:1 HT, 1:11 ET = 2:2 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:3 HT, etc., through 2:23 ET = 2:25 HT. Beginning with 3:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[1:10]  ³⁴ tn The vav prefixed to וְהָיָה (véhaya) functions in an adversative sense: “however” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §432).

[1:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV “the children”; NAB, NIV “the Israelites.”

[1:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “in the place” (בִּמְקוֹם, bimqom). BDB 880 s.v. מָקוֹם 7.b suggests that בִּמְקוֹם (preposition בְּ, bet, + noun מָקוֹם, maqom) is an idiom carrying a concessive sense: “instead of” (e.g., Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1). However, HALOT suggests that it functions in a locative sense: “in the same place” (HALOT 626 s.v. מָקוֹם 2b; e.g., 1 Kgs 21:19; Isa 33:21; Hos 2:1).

[1:10]  ³⁷ tn The predicate nominative, “You are…,” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “sons” (so KJV, NASB, NIV).

[21:43]  ³⁹ tn Or “to a nation” (so KJV, NASB, NLT).

[11:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Grk “that they might fall.”

[11:11]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “them”; the referent (Israel, cf. 11:7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[11:12]  ⁴² tn Or “full inclusion”; Grk “their fullness.”

[11:16]  ⁴³ tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.

[11:16]  ⁴⁴ sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.

[11:17]  ⁴⁵ tn Grk “became a participant of.”