Jeremiah 23:3-4

23:3 Then I myself will regather those of my people ¹  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ²  They will greatly increase in number. 23:4 I will install rulers ³  over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing. ⁴  I, the Lord, promise it! ⁵ 

Jeremiah 29:14

29:14 I will make myself available to you,’ ⁶  says the Lord. ⁷  ‘Then I will reverse your plight ⁸  and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,’ says the Lord. ⁹  ‘I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’

Jeremiah 31:8-11

31:8 Then I will reply, ¹⁰  ‘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.

31:9 They will come back shedding tears of contrition.

I will bring them back praying prayers of repentance. ¹¹ 

I will lead them besides streams of water,

along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ¹² 

I will do this because I am Israel’s father;

Ephraim ¹³  is my firstborn son.’”

31:10 Hear what the Lord has to say, O nations.

Proclaim it in the faraway lands along the sea.

Say, “The one who scattered Israel will regather them.

He will watch over his people like a shepherd watches over his flock.”

31:11 For the Lord will rescue the descendants of Jacob.

He will secure their release ¹⁴  from those who had overpowered them. ¹⁵ 

Jeremiah 32:37

32:37 ‘I will certainly regather my people from all the countries where I will have exiled ¹⁶  them in my anger, fury, and great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and allow them to live here in safety.

Isaiah 11:11-16

11:11 At that time ¹⁷  the sovereign master ¹⁸  will again lift his hand ¹⁹  to reclaim ²⁰  the remnant of his people ²¹  from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, ²²  Cush, ²³  Elam, Shinar, ²⁴  Hamath, and the seacoasts. ²⁵ 

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

he will gather Israel’s dispersed people ²⁶ 

and assemble Judah’s scattered people

from the four corners of the earth.

11:13 Ephraim’s jealousy will end, ²⁷ 

and Judah’s hostility ²⁸  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 ²⁹  on the Philistine hills to the west; ³⁰ 

together they will loot the people of the east.

They will take over Edom and Moab, ³¹ 

and the Ammonites will be their subjects.

11:15 The Lord will divide ³²  the gulf ³³  of the Egyptian Sea; ³⁴ 

he will wave his hand over the Euphrates River ³⁵  and send a strong wind, ³⁶ 

he will turn it into seven dried-up streams, ³⁷ 

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, ³⁸ 

just as there was for Israel,

when ³⁹  they went up from the land of Egypt.

Ezekiel 34:10-14

34:10 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; ⁴⁰  the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

34:11 “‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. 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. ⁴¹  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. 34:14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush ⁴²  pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel.

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 37:21-22

37:21 Then tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to take the Israelites from among the nations where they have gone. I will gather them from round about and bring them to their land. 37:22 I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will rule over them all. They will never again be two nations and never again be divided into two kingdoms. ⁴³ 

Ezekiel 39:25

39:25 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore ⁴⁴  the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name.

Amos 9:14

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ⁴⁵ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ⁴⁶  and settle down. ⁴⁷ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ⁴⁸ 

they will grow orchards ⁴⁹  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁵⁰ 

Micah 7:11-16

7:11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls;

in that day your boundary will be extended. ⁵¹ 

A Closing Prayer

7:12 In that day people ⁵²  will come to you ⁵³ 

from Assyria as far as ⁵⁴  Egypt,

from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, ⁵⁵ 

from the seacoasts ⁵⁶  and the mountains. ⁵⁷ 

7:13 The earth will become desolate ⁵⁸ 

because of what its inhabitants have done. ⁵⁹ 

7:14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ⁶⁰ 

the flock that belongs to you, ⁶¹ 

the one that lives alone in a thicket,

in the midst of a pastureland. ⁶² 

Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ⁶³ 

as they did in the old days. ⁶⁴ 

7:15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,

I will show you ⁶⁵  miraculous deeds.” ⁶⁶ 

7:16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by ⁶⁷  all their strength,

they will put their hands over their mouths,

and act as if they were deaf. ⁶⁸ 

[23:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my sheep.”

[23:3]  ² tn Heb “their fold.”

[23:4]  ³ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[23:4]  ⁴ tn There are various nuances of the word פָּקַד (paqad) represented in vv. 2, 4. See Ps 8:4 (8:5 HT) and Zech 10:3 for “care for/take care of” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.1.a). See Exod 20:5; Amos 3:2; Jer 9:24; 11:22 for “punish” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Qal.A.3). See 1 Kgs 20:39 and 2 Kgs 10:19 for “be missing” (cf. BDB 823 s.v. פָּקַד Niph.1).

[23:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will let myself be found by you.” For this nuance of the verb see BDB 594 s.v. מָצָא Niph.1.f and compare the usage in Isa 65:1; 2 Chr 15:2. The Greek version already noted that nuance when it translated the phrase “I will manifest myself to you.”

[29:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “restore your fortune.” Alternately, “I will bring you back from exile.” This idiom occurs twenty-six times in the OT and in several cases it is clearly not referring to return from exile but restoration of fortunes (e.g., Job 42:10; Hos 6:11–7:1; Jer 33:11). It is often followed as here by “regather” or “bring back” (e.g., Jer 30:3; Ezek 29:14) so it is often misunderstood as “bringing back the exiles.” The versions (LXX, Vulg., Tg., Pesh.) often translate the idiom as “to go away into captivity,” deriving the noun from שְׁבִי (shÿvi, “captivity”). However, the use of this expression in Old Aramaic documents of Sefire parallels the biblical idiom: “the gods restored the fortunes of the house of my father again” (J. A. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 100-101, 119-20). The idiom means “to turn someone's fortune, bring about change” or “to reestablish as it was” (HALOT 1386 s.v. 3.c). In Ezek 16:53 it is paralleled by the expression “to restore the situation which prevailed earlier.” This amounts to restitutio in integrum, which is applicable to the circumstances surrounding the return of the exiles.

[29:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:8]  ¹⁰ 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.

[31:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “They will come with weeping; I will bring them with supplication.” The ideas of contrition and repentance are implicit from the context (cf. vv. 18-19) and are supplied for clarity.

[31:9]  ¹² sn Jer 31:8-9 are reminiscent of the “New Exodus” motif of Isa 40-66 which has already been referred to in Jer 16:14-15; 23:7-8. See especially Isa 35:3-10; 40:3-5, 11; 41:17-20; 42:14-17; 43:16-21; 49:9-13. As there, the New Exodus will so outstrip the old that the old will pale in comparison and be almost forgotten (see Jer 23:7-8).

[31:9]  ¹³ sn Ephraim was the second son of Joseph who was elevated to a place of prominence in the family of Jacob by the patriarch’s special blessing. It was the strongest tribe in northern Israel and Samaria lay in its territory. It is often used as a poetic parallel for Israel as here. The poetry is not speaking of two separate entities here; it is a way of repeating an idea for emphasis. Moreover, there is no intent to show special preference for northern Israel over Judah. All Israel is metaphorically God’s son and the object of his special care and concern (Exod 4:22; Deut 32:6).

[31:11]  ¹⁴ sn Two rather theologically significant metaphors are used in this verse. The Hebrew word translated “will set…free” is a word used in the legal sphere for paying a redemption price to secure the freedom of a person or thing (see, e.g., Exod 13:13, 15). It is used metaphorically and theologically to refer to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Deut 15:15; Mic 6:4) and its deliverance from Babylonian exile (Isa 35:10). The word translated “secure their release” is a word used in the sphere of family responsibility where a person paid the price to free an indentured relative (Lev 25:48, 49) or paid the price to restore a relative’s property seized to pay a debt (Lev 25:25, 33). This word, too, was used to refer metaphorically and theologically to Israel’s deliverance from Egyptian bondage (Exod 6:6) or release from Babylonian exile (Isa 43:1-4; 44:22). These words are traditionally translated “ransom” and “redeem” and are a part of traditional Jewish and Christian vocabulary for physical and spiritual deliverance.

[31:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from the hand/power of the one too strong for him.”

[32:37]  ¹⁶ 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.

[11:11]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[11:11]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Or “acquire”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “recover.”

[11:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “the remnant of his people who remain.”

[11:11]  ²² sn Perhaps a reference to Upper (i.e., southern) Egypt (so NIV, NLT; NCV “South Egypt”).

[11:11]  ²³ tn Or “Ethiopia” (NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[11:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “Babylonia” (NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[11:11]  ²⁵ tn Or perhaps, “the islands of the sea.”

[11:12]  ²⁶ tn Or “the banished of Israel,” i.e., the exiles.

[11:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “turn aside”; KJV, NASB, NRSV “depart.”

[11:13]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn Heb “fly.” Ephraim/Judah are compared to a bird of prey.

[11:14]  ³⁰ 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]  ³¹ 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]  ³² 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]  ³³ tn Heb “tongue” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[11:15]  ³⁴ sn That is, the Red Sea.

[11:15]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the river”; capitalized in some English versions (e.g., ASV, NASB, NRSV) as a reference to the Euphrates River.

[11:15]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and there will be a highway for the remnant of his people who remain, from Assyria.”

[11:16]  ³⁹ tn Heb “in the day” (so KJV).

[34:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “I will cause them to cease from feeding sheep.”

[34:12]  ⁴¹ sn The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6 b.c.

[34:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “good.”

[37:22]  ⁴³ sn Jeremiah also attested to the reuniting of the northern and southern kingdoms (Jer 3:12, 14; 31:2-6).

[39:25]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “cause to return.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁵ tn This line can also be translated “I will restore the fortunes of my people, Israel” and is a common idiom (e.g., Deut 30:3; Jer 30:3; Hos 6:11; Zeph 3:20). This rendering is followed by several modern English versions (e.g., NEB, NRSV, NJPS).

[9:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[7:11]  ⁵¹ sn Personified Jerusalem declares her confidence in vv. 8-10; in this verse she is assured that she will indeed be vindicated.

[7:12]  ⁵² tn Heb “they.” The referent has been specified as “people,” referring either to the nations (coming to God with their tribute) or to the exiles of Israel (returning to the Lord).

[7:12]  ⁵³ tn The masculine pronominal suffix suggests the Lord is addressed. Some emend to a feminine form and take Jerusalem as the addressee.

[7:12]  ⁵⁴ tc The MT reads וְעָרֵי (vÿ’arey, “and the cities [of Egypt]”), but the parallel line indicates this is a corruption of וְעַד (vÿ’ad, “even to”).

[7:12]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “the River,” referring to the Euphrates River. This has been specified in the translation for clarity (so also NASB, NIV).

[7:12]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and sea from sea.” Many prefer to emend this to מִיָּם עַד יָם (miyyam ’ad yam, “from sea to sea”).

[7:12]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and mountain of the mountain.” Many prefer to emend this to וּמֵהַר עַד הַר (umehar ’ad har, “and mountain to mountain”).

[7:13]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “will be ruined.”

[7:13]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “on account of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.”

[7:14]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “with your scepter” (the Hebrew term can mean either “rod” or “scepter”).

[7:14]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “the flock of your inheritance.”

[7:14]  ⁶² tn Or “in the midst of Carmel.” The Hebrew term translated “pastureland” may be a place name.

[7:14]  ⁶³ sn The regions of Bashan and Gilead, located in Transjordan, were noted for their rich grazing lands.

[7:14]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “as in the days of antiquity.”

[7:15]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “him.” This probably refers to Israel in a collective sense. Because the switch from direct address to the third person is awkward, some prefer to emend the suffix to a second person form. In any case, it is necessary to employ a second person pronoun in the translation to maintain the connection for the English reader.

[7:15]  ⁶⁶ sn I will show you miraculous deeds. In this verse the Lord responds to the petition of v. 14 with a brief promise of deliverance.

[7:16]  ⁶⁷ tn Or “be ashamed of.”

[7:16]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “and their ears will be deaf.” Apparently this means the opposing nations will be left dumbfounded by the Lord’s power. Their inability to respond will make them appear to be deaf mutes.