Text

[8] I will signal for them and gather them in,

I will signal to them and welcome them, 

For I have redeemed them,

Because I shall redeem them,

And they shall be as numerous as they were before.

And they shall be multiplied just as they were many;

[9] Though I scattered them among the nations,

And I shall sow them in peoples,

Yet in far countries they shall remember me,

And the distant shall remember me

And they shall rear their children and return.

They shall raise up their children and return.

[10] I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,

I shall return them from the land of Egypt

And gather them from Assyria;

And from Assyria welcome them

I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,

And into Gilead and Lebanon I shall bring them,

Until there is no room for them. 

And not even one of them shall be left behind;

[11] They shall pass through the sea of distress, 

They shall pass through the narrow sea,

And the waves of the sea shall be struck down,

And they shall strike the waves in the sea,

And all the depths of the Nile dried up.

And every depth of the rivers shall dry out

The pride of Assyria shall be laid low, 

And all hubris will be taken away from Assyria,

and the scepter of Egypt shall depart.  

And the scepter of Egypt shall be revoked,

[12] I will make them strong in the LORD,

And I shall strengthen them in the Lord their God,

And they shall walk in his name, say the LORD. 

And in his name they shall boast, say the Lord. 

Notes on Text

This passage is straightforwardly describing a return from exile and the ascendancy of God’s people at the expense of the power and pride of Assyria/Egypt.  Notably, Assyria (and thus the Babylonian exile) are treated as equivalent to Egypt, thus allowing this latter exile to be depicted as following a pattern with scriptural precedent.  The question that I raised in the previous post about what, if anything, the faithful had done to justify this redemption remains quite relevant here.  The Greek verb translated in verse 8 as “redeem” is λυτρὀω lytroō, which means to redeem or pay a ransom.  In English, this sense of redemption as payment in exchange is obscured, but God is essentially promising to pay a ransom to remove the chosen people from their captivity among foreigners.  Notably, in ancient warfare it was not unheard of for captive aristocrats to be exchanged for ransom, so this might be read fairly literally as God occupying a place and set of behaviors normally occupied by worldly kinship or political networks.  But again, it is ambiguous whether this redemption precedes positive change in behavior on the part of God’s people or the aristocrats/bad shepherds, or whether it is the result of their repentance.