Zefanya 3:20

3:20 At that time I will lead you –

at the time I gather you together. ¹ 

Be sure of this! ²  I will make all the nations of the earth respect and admire you ³ 

when you see me restore you,” ⁴  says the Lord.

Mazmur 85:1

Psalm 85 ⁵ 

For the music director; written by the Korahites, a psalm.

85:1 O Lord, you showed favor to your land;

you restored the well-being of Jacob. ⁶ 

Mazmur 126:1-4

Psalm 126 ⁷ 

A song of ascents. ⁸ 

126:1 When the Lord restored the well-being of Zion, ⁹ 

we thought we were dreaming. ¹⁰ 

126:2 At that time we laughed loudly

and shouted for joy. ¹¹ 

At that time the nations said, ¹² 

“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”

126:3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.

We were happy.

126:4 O Lord, restore our well-being,

just as the streams in the arid south are replenished. ¹³ 

Yesaya 14:1

14:1 The Lord will certainly have compassion on Jacob; ¹⁴  he will again choose Israel as his special people ¹⁵  and restore ¹⁶  them to their land. Resident foreigners will join them and unite with the family ¹⁷  of Jacob.

Yeremia 3:18

3:18 At that time ¹⁸  the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel will be reunited. ¹⁹  Together they will come back from a land in the north to the land that I gave to your ancestors as a permanent possession. ” ²⁰ 

Yeremia 23:3

23:3 Then I myself will regather those of my people ²¹  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ²²  They will greatly increase in number.

Yeremia 29:14

29:14 I will make myself available to you,’ ²³  says the Lord. ²⁴  ‘Then I will reverse your plight ²⁵  and will regather you from all the nations and all the places where I have exiled you,’ says the Lord. ²⁶  ‘I will bring you back to the place from which I exiled you.’

Yeremia 30:3

30:3 For I, the Lord, affirm ²⁷  that the time will come when I will reverse the plight ²⁸  of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors ²⁹  and they will take possession of it once again.’” ³⁰ 

Yeremia 30:18-19

The Lord Will Restore Israel and Judah

30:18 The Lord says,

“I will restore the ruined houses of the descendants of Jacob.

I will show compassion on their ruined homes. ³¹ 

Every city will be rebuilt on its former ruins. ³² 

Every fortified dwelling will occupy its traditional site. ³³ 

30:19 Out of those places you will hear songs of thanksgiving ³⁴ 

and the sounds of laughter and merriment.

I will increase their number and they will not dwindle away. ³⁵ 

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

Yeremia 33:7

33:7 I will restore Judah and Israel ³⁶  and will rebuild them as they were in days of old. ³⁷ 

Yehezkiel 39:25

39:25 “Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Now I will restore ³⁸  the fortunes of Jacob, and I will have mercy on the entire house of Israel. I will be zealous for my holy name.

Amos 9:14-15

9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel; ³⁹ 

they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble ⁴⁰  and settle down. ⁴¹ 

They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; ⁴² 

they will grow orchards ⁴³  and eat the fruit they produce. ⁴⁴ 

9:15 I will plant them on their land

and they will never again be uprooted from the ⁴⁵  land I have given them,”

says the Lord your God.

Mikha 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ⁴⁶  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ⁴⁷  you

from the power ⁴⁸  of your enemies.

[3:20]  ¹ tn In this line the second person pronoun is masculine plural, indicating that the exiles are addressed.

[3:20]  ² tn Or “for.”

[3:20]  ³ tn Heb “I will make you into a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth.” Here the word “name” carries the nuance of “good reputation.”

[3:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “when I restore your fortunes to your eyes.” See the note on the phrase “restore them” in 2:7.

[85:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 85. God’s people recall how he forgave their sins in the past, pray that he might now restore them to his favor, and anticipate renewed blessings.

[85:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “you turned with a turning [toward] Jacob.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv). See Pss 14:7; 53:6.

[126:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 126. Recalling the joy of past deliverance, God’s covenant community asks for a fresh display of God’s power and confidently anticipate their sorrow being transformed into joy.

[126:1]  ⁸ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[126:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] his people.” The Hebrew noun שִׁיבַת (shivat) occurs only here in the OT. For this reason many prefer to emend the form to the more common שְׁבִית (shevit) or שְׁבוּת (shÿvut), both of which are used as a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv; see Ps 14:7). However an Aramaic cognate of שְׁבִית appears in an eighth century b.c. Old Aramaic inscription with the verb שׁוּב. This cognate noun appears to mean “return” (see J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Treaties of Sefire [BibOr], 119-20) or “restoration” (see DNWSI 2:1125). Therefore it appears that שְׁבִית should be retained and understood as a cognate accusative of שׁוּב. In addition to Fitzmyer (119-20) see L. C. Allen, who offers the literal translation, “turn with a turning toward” (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 170). Allen takes שְׁבִית as construct and understands “Zion” as an objective genitive.

[126:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “we were like dreamers.” This could mean the speakers were so overcome with ecstatic joy (see v. 3b) that they were like those who fantasize about pleasurable experiences in their sleep (see Isa 29:7-8). Since dreams are more commonly associated in the OT with prophetic visions, the community may be comparing their experience of God’s renewed favor to a prophet’s receiving divine visions. Just as a prophetic dream sweeps the individual into a different dimension and sometimes brings one face-to-face with God himself (see Gen 28:11-15; 1 Kgs 3:5-15), so the community was aware of God’s presence in a special way in the day of Zion’s restoration. Though the MT as it stands makes good sense, some choose to understand a homonymic root here meaning “to be healthy; to be strong” (see BDB 321 s.v. I חָלַם) and translate, “we were like those restored to health.” This reading appears to have the support of several ancient translations as well as 11QPs^a. See L. C. Allen (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 170-71) for a discussion of the viewpoints.

[126:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with a shout.”

[126:2]  ¹² tn Heb “they said among the nations.”

[126:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “like the streams in the Negev.”

[126:4]  sn The streams in the arid south. Y. Aharoni writes of the streams in the Negev: “These usually dry wadis collect water on rainy days from vast areas. The situation is also aggravated by floods from the desert mountains and southern Judah. For a day or two or, more frequently, for only a few hours they turn into dangerous torrents” (Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 26). God’s people were experiencing a “dry season” after a time of past blessing; they pray here for a “flash flood” of his renewed blessing. This does not imply that they are requesting only a brief display of God’s blessing. Rather the point of comparison is the suddenness with which the wadis swell during a rain, as well as the depth and power of these raging waters. The community desires a sudden display of divine favor in which God overwhelms them with blessings.

[14:1]  ¹⁴ tn The sentence begins with כִּי (ki), which is understood as asseverative (“certainly”) in the translation. Another option is to translate, “For the Lord will have compassion.” In this case one of the reasons for Babylon’s coming demise (13:22b) is the Lord’s desire to restore his people.

[14:1]  ¹⁵ tn The words “as his special people” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[14:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “settle” (NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT).

[14:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[3:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “In those days.”

[3:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the house of Judah will walk together with the house of Israel.”

[3:18]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the land that I gave your [fore]fathers as an inheritance.”

[23:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “my sheep.”

[23:3]  ²² tn Heb “their fold.”

[29:14]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[29:14]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[30:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[30:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “restore the fortune.” For the translation and meaning of this idiom see the note at 29:14.

[30:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “fathers.”

[30:3]  ³⁰ sn As the nations of Israel and Judah were united in their sin and suffered the same fate – that of exile and dispersion – (cf. Jer 3:8; 5:11; 11:10, 17) so they will ultimately be regathered from the nations and rejoined under one king, a descendant of David, and regain possession of their ancestral lands. The prophets of both the eighth and seventh century looked forward to this ideal (see, e.g., Hos 1:11 (2:2 HT); Isa 11:11-13; Jer 23:5-6; 30:3; 33:7; Ezek 37:15-22). This has already been anticipated in Jer 3:18.

[30:18]  ³¹ tn Heb “I will restore the fortunes of the tents of Jacob and will have compassion on his habitations.” For the meaning of the idiom “restore the fortunes of” see the translator’s note on 29:14. The “tents of Jacob” refers to their homes or houses (see BDB 14 s.v. אֹהֶל 2 and compare usage in Judg 19:9; Mal 2:12). The word “ruined” has been supplied in the translation to show more clearly the idea of restoration of their houses on their former sites in conformity to the concepts in the latter half of the verse.

[30:18]  ³² sn Heb “on its tel.” A tel is a site where successive layers of occupation are built upon one another after the destruction or decay of the former city. The original site was not abandoned because it had been chosen for strategic purposes, such as proximity to water or ease of defense. Many modern archaeological sites have the designation “Tel” as a component of their name because of this practice.

[30:18]  ³³ tn Heb “according to its custom [or plan].” Cf. BDB 1049 s.v. מִשְׁפָּט 6.d and compare usage in 1 Sam 27:11.

[30:19]  ³⁴ tn Heb “Out of them will come thanksgiving and a sound of those who are playful.”

[30:19]  ³⁵ sn Compare Jer 29:6.

[33:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “I will reverse [or restore] the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel.” For this idiom see the translator’s note on Jer 29:14 and see the usage in 30:3, 18; 31:23; 32:44.

[33:7]  ³⁷ tn This phrase simply means “as formerly” (BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן 3.a). The reference to the “as formerly” must be established from the context. See the usage in Judg 20:32; 1 Kgs 13:6; Isa 1:26.

[33:7]  sn Reference is to the reunification of Israel and Judah to the state that they were before the division after Solomon. Compare Jer 3:18; 30:3; 31:27 and see the study note on 30:3.

[39:25]  ³⁸ tn Heb “cause to return.”

[9:14]  ³⁹ 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]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “the ruined [or “desolate”] cities.”

[9:14]  ⁴¹ tn Or “and live [in them].”

[9:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “drink their wine.”

[9:14]  ⁴³ tn Or “gardens.”

[9:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “eat their fruit.”

[9:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “their.” The pronoun was replaced by the English definite article in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[4:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.