Micah 4:7

4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, ¹ 

and those far off ²  into a mighty nation.

The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,

from that day forward and forevermore.” ³ 

Isaiah 10:20-21

10:20 At that time ⁴  those left in Israel, those who remain of the family ⁵  of Jacob, will no longer rely on a foreign leader that abuses them. ⁶  Instead they will truly ⁷  rely on the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. ⁸  10:21 A remnant will come back, a remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. ⁹ 

Isaiah 11:11

11:11 At that time ¹⁰  the sovereign master ¹¹  will again lift his hand ¹²  to reclaim ¹³  the remnant of his people ¹⁴  from Assyria, Egypt, Pathros, ¹⁵  Cush, ¹⁶  Elam, Shinar, ¹⁷  Hamath, and the seacoasts. ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 31:1

31:1 At that time I will be the God of all the clans of Israel ¹⁹ 

and they will be my people.

I, the Lord, affirm it!” ²⁰ 

Jeremiah 31:7-9

31:7 Moreover, ²¹  the Lord says,

“Sing for joy for the descendants of Jacob.

Utter glad shouts for that foremost of the nations. ²² 

Make your praises heard. ²³ 

Then say, ‘Lord, rescue your people.

Deliver those of Israel who remain alive.’ ²⁴ 

31:8 Then I will reply, ²⁵  ‘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. ²⁶ 

I will lead them besides streams of water,

along smooth paths where they will never stumble. ²⁷ 

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

Ephraim ²⁸  is my firstborn son.’”

Romans 9:27-28

9:27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children ²⁹  of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 9:28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.” ³⁰ 

Romans 11:4-6

11:4 But what was the divine response ³¹  to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people ³²  who have not bent the knee to Baal.” ³³ 

11:5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

[4:7]  ¹ tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”

[4:7]  ² tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).

[4:7]  ³ tn Heb “from now until forever.”

[10:20]  ⁴ tn Or “in that day.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

[10:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “house” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[10:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “on one who strikes him down.” This individual is the king (“foreign leader”) of the oppressing nation (which NLT specifies as “the Assyrians”).

[10:20]  ⁷ tn Or “sincerely”; KJV, ASV, NAB, NRSV “in truth.”

[10:20]  ⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[10:21]  ⁷ tn The referent of אֵל גִּבּוֹר (’el gibbor, “mighty God”) is uncertain. The title appears only here and in 9:6, where it is one of the royal titles of the coming ideal Davidic king. (Similar titles appear in Deut 10:17 and Neh 9:32 [“the great, mighty, and awesome God”] and in Jer 32:18 [“the great and mighty God”]. Both titles refer to God.) Though Hos 3:5 pictures Israel someday seeking “David their king,” and provides some support for a messianic interpretation of Isa 10:21, the Davidic king is not mentioned in the immediate context of Isa 10:21 (see Isa 11, however). The preceding verse mentions Israel relying on the Lord, so it is likely that the title refers to God here.

[11:11]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonai).

[11:11]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Or “acquire”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV “recover.”

[11:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the remnant of his people who remain.”

[11:11]  ¹⁵ sn Perhaps a reference to Upper (i.e., southern) Egypt (so NIV, NLT; NCV “South Egypt”).

[11:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Ethiopia” (NAB, NRSV, NLT).

[11:11]  ¹⁷ tn Or “Babylonia” (NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT).

[11:11]  ¹⁸ tn Or perhaps, “the islands of the sea.”

[31:1]  ¹³ sn This verse repeats v. 22 but with specific reference to all the clans of Israel, i.e., to all Israel and Judah. It functions here as a transition to the next section which will deal with the restoration of Israel (31:3-20) and Judah (31:21-25) and their reunification in the land (31:27-29) under a new covenant relation with God (31:31-37). See also the study note on 30:3 for further reference to this reunification in Jeremiah and the other prophets.

[31:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:7]  ¹⁶ tn See the translator’s notes on 30:5, 12.

[31:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for the head/chief of the nations.” See BDB 911 s.v. רֹאשׁ 3.c and compare usage in Ps 18:44 referring to David as the “chief” or “foremost ruler” of the nations.

[31:7]  ¹⁸ tn It is unclear who the addressees of the masculine plural imperatives are in this verse. Possibly they are the implied exiles who are viewed as in the process of returning and praying for their fellow countrymen.

[31:7]  ¹⁹ tc Or “The Lord will rescue his people. He will deliver those of Israel who remain alive.” The translation used in the text follows the Hebrew: “Rescue your people, O Lord, the remnant of Israel.” The alternate translation which is preferred by several modern English versions (e.g., REB, TEV) and a majority of modern commentaries (see, e.g., J. A. Thompson, Jeremiah [NICOT], 569; J. Bright, Jeremiah [AB], 273, n. s-s) follows the reading of the Greek version and the Aramaic Targum and appears more appropriate to the context of praise presupposed by the preceding imperatives. The difference in the two readings are the omission of one vowel letter and the confusion of a final ךְ (kaf) and a וֹ (holem-vav) which are very similar in form. (The Greek presupposes הוֹשִׁיעַ יְהוָה אֶת־עַמּוֹ [hoshi’a yÿhvah ’et-’ammo] for the Hebrew הוֹשַׁע יְהוָה אֶת־עַמְּךְ [hosha’ yÿhvah ’et-’ammÿkh].) The key to a decision here is the shift from the verbs of praise to the imperative “say” which introduces the quotation; there is a shift from praise to petition. The shift in mood is not uncommon, occurring, for example, in Ps 118:25 and 126:4; it is the shift in mood between praise for what has begun to petition for what is further hoped for. It is easier to explain the origin contextually of the Greek and Targum than it is the Hebrew text, thus the Greek and Targum are probably a secondary smoothing of the text (this is the decision of the D. Barthélemy, ed., Preliminary and Interim Report on the Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, 4:263). The mood of prayer also shows up in v. 9 and again in vv. 17-18.

[31:8]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²² 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]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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).

[9:27]  ²⁵ tn Grk “sons.”

[9:28]  ²⁸ tc In light of the interpretive difficulty of this verse, a longer reading seems to have been added to clarify the meaning. The addition, in the middle of the sentence, makes the whole verse read as follows: “For he will execute his sentence completely and quickly in righteousness, because the Lord will do it quickly on the earth.” The shorter reading is found largely in Alexandrian mss (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), while the longer reading is found principally in Western and Byzantine mss (א² D F G Ψ 33 Ï lat). The longer reading follows Isa 10:22-23 (LXX) verbatim, while Paul in the previous verse quoted the LXX loosely. This suggests the addition was made by a copyist trying to make sense out of a difficult passage rather than by the author himself.

[11:4]  ³¹ tn Grk “the revelation,” “the oracle.”

[11:4]  ³² tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it appears to be a generic usage (“people”) since when Paul speaks of a remnant of faithful Israelites (“the elect,” v. 7), he is not referring to males only. It can also be argued, however, that it refers only to adult males here (“men”), perhaps as representative of all the faithful left in Israel.

[11:4]  ³³ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:18.