Yeremia 30:19

30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ¹ 

and the sounds of laughter and merriment.

I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ² 

I will bring them honor and they will no longer be despised.

Yeremia 31:8

31:8 Then I will reply, ³  ‘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.

Yeremia 31:27

Israel and Judah Will Be Repopulated

31:27 “Indeed, a time is coming,” ⁴  says the Lord, ⁵  “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. ⁶ 

Yesaya 60:22

60:22 The least of you will multiply into ⁷  a thousand;

the smallest of you will become a large nation.

When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” ⁸ 

Yesaya 61:4

61:4 They will rebuild the perpetual ruins

and restore the places that were desolate; ⁹ 

they will reestablish the ruined cities,

the places that have been desolate since ancient times.

Yehezkiel 36:8-12

36:8 “‘But you, mountains of Israel, will grow your branches, and bear your fruit for my people Israel; for they will arrive soon. ¹⁰  36:9 For indeed, I am on your side; ¹¹  I will turn to you, and you will be plowed and planted. 36:10 I will multiply your people ¹²  – the whole house of Israel, all of it. The cities will be populated and the ruins rebuilt. 36:11 I will increase the number of people and animals on you; they will increase and be fruitful. ¹³  I will cause you to be inhabited as in ancient times, and will do more good for you than at the beginning of your history. ¹⁴  Then you will know that I am the Lord. 36:12 I will lead people, my people Israel, across you; they will possess you and you will become their inheritance. No longer will you bereave them of their children.

Yehezkiel 37:26

37:26 I will make a covenant of peace with them; it will be a perpetual covenant with them. ¹⁵  I will establish them, ¹⁶  increase their numbers, and place my sanctuary among them forever.

Hosea 1:10-11

The Restoration of Israel

1:10 (2:1) ¹⁷  However, ¹⁸  in the future the number of the people ¹⁹  of Israel will be like the sand of the sea which can be neither measured nor numbered. Although ²⁰  it was said to them, “You are not my people,” it will be said to them, “You are ²¹  children ²²  of the living God!” 1:11 Then the people ²³  of Judah and the people of Israel will be gathered together. They will appoint for themselves one leader, ²⁴  and will flourish in the land. ²⁵  Certainly, ²⁶  the day of Jezreel will be great!

Amos 9:9

9:9 “For look, I am giving a command

and I will shake the family of Israel together with all the nations.

It will resemble a sieve being shaken,

when not even a pebble falls to the ground. ²⁷ 

Amos 9:14-15

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ²⁸ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ²⁹  and settle down. ³⁰ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ³¹ 

they will grow orchards ³²  and eat the fruit they produce. ³³ 

9:15 I will plant them on their land

and they will never again be uprooted from the ³⁴  land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

Zakharia 8:4-5

8:4 Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says, ‘Old men and women will once more live in the plazas of Jerusalem, each one leaning on a cane because of advanced age. 8:5 And the streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing. ³⁵ 

Zakharia 10:7-9

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 ³⁶  them among the nations, they will remember in far-off places – they and their children will sprout forth and return.

[30:19]  ¹ tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”

[30:19]  ² sn Compare Jer 29:6.

[31:8]  ³ 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.

[31:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “Behold days are coming!” The particle “Behold” is probably used here to emphasize the reality of a fact. See the translator’s note on 1:6.

[31:27]  sn This same expression is found in the introduction to the Book of Consolation (Jer 30:1-3) and in the introduction to the promise of a new covenant (or covenant; 31:31). In all three passages it is emphasized that the conditions apply to both Israel and Judah. The Lord will reverse their fortunes and restore them to their lands (30:3), increase their numbers and build them up (31:27-28), and make a new covenant with them involving forgiveness of sins (31:31-34).

[31:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:27]  ⁶ tn Heb “Behold, the days are coming and [= when] I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of people and of animals.” For the significance of the metaphor see the study note.

[31:27]  sn The metaphor used here presupposes that drawn in Hos 2:23 (2:25 HT) which is in turn based on the wordplay with Jezreel (meaning “God sows”) in Hos 2:22. The figure is that of plant seed in the ground which produces a crop; here what are sown are the “seeds of people and animals.” For a similar picture of the repopulating of Israel and Judah see Ezek 36:10-11. The promise here reverses the scene of devastation that Jeremiah had depicted apocalyptically and hyperbolically in Jer 4:23-29 as judgment for Judah’s sins.

[60:22]  ⁷ tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).

[60:22]  ⁸ tn Heb “I, the Lord, in its time, I will quickly do it.”

[61:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the formerly desolate places they will raise up.”

[36:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they draw near to arrive.”

[36:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I (am) toward you.”

[36:10]  ¹² tn Heb “I will multiply on you human(s).”

[36:11]  ¹³ sn These verbs occur together in Gen 1:22, 28; 9:1.

[36:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your beginning.”

[37:26]  ¹⁵ sn See Isa 24:5; 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 16:60, for other references to perpetual covenants.

[37:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “give them.”

[1:10]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn The vav prefixed to וְהָיָה (véhaya) functions in an adversative sense: “however” (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 71, §432).

[1:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “sons” (so NASB); KJV, ASV “the children”; NAB, NIV “the Israelites.”

[1:10]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn The predicate nominative, “You are…,” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:10]  ²² tn Heb “sons” (so KJV, NASB, NIV).

[1:11]  ²³ tn Heb “sons” (twice in this verse, so NASB); KJV, ASV “children”; NIV, NRSV, TEV “people.”

[1:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “head” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV).

[1:11]  ²⁵ tn Alternatively, “gain possession of the land” (cf. NRSV) or “rise up from the land” (cf. NIV). This clause may be understood in two ways: (1) Israel will gain ascendancy over the land or conquer the land (e.g., Exod 1:10; cf. NAB “come up from other lands”) or (2) Israel will be “planted” in the land (Hos 2:24-25; cf. NLT “will…plant his people”).

[1:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “For” (so NASB); NCV “because”; TEV “Yes.”

[9:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “like being shaken with a sieve, and a pebble does not fall to the ground.” The meaning of the Hebrew word צְרוֹר (tsÿror), translated “pebble,” is unclear here. In 2 Sam 17:13 it appears to refer to a stone. If it means “pebble,” then the sieve described in v. 6 allows the grain to fall into a basket while retaining the debris and pebbles. However, if one interprets צְרוֹר as a “kernel of grain” (cf. NASB, NIV, NKJV, NLT) then the sieve is constructed to retain the grain and allow the refuse and pebbles to fall to the ground. In either case, the simile supports the last statement in v. 8 by making it clear that God will distinguish between the righteous (the grain) and the wicked (the pebbles) when he judges, and will thereby preserve a remnant in Israel. Only the sinners will be destroyed (v. 10).

[9:14]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ³⁰ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ³² tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ³³ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[9:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “their.” The pronoun was replaced by the English definite article in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[8:5]  ³⁵ sn The references to longevity and to children living and playing in peace are eschatological in tone. Elsewhere the millennial kingdom is characterized in a similar manner (cf. Isa 65:20; Jer 31:12-13).

[10:9]  ³⁶ tn Or “sow” (so KJV, ASV). The imagery is taken from the sowing of seed by hand.