He will raise an ensign for the nations: According to verse 10, the Davidic ruler will be an “ensign,” a rallying point or banner for all people; see the comments there. It is possible that the ensign here is the same ruler. The nations are the foreign nations, as in verse 10. These two terms provide clear links between this section (verses 11-16) and the previous one (verse 1-10). However, the sense of verse 12 is not obvious. The ensign or “signal flag” (Good News Translation) probably is intended as a warning to the foreign nations within which the Israelite exiles are living. The message is that they should permit the exiles to travel back to their homeland. The “raising of the ensign” metaphor shows that Yahweh is the one who controls the nations and their activities.

And will assemble the outcasts of Israel: Yahweh will bring together his people who were scattered. This is no mere historical accident but Yahweh’s rescue plan. The outcasts of Israel refers to the people who were taken away from Israel as captives, but the term outcasts also denotes rejection. We may say “those who had been banished from Israel.” New International Version and Bible en français courant have “the exiles of Israel.” Israel here refers to the northern kingdom of Israel since it is parallel to Judah.

And gather the dispersed of Judah is parallel to the previous line. If this is a historical reference, then the issue of dating becomes important since Isaiah was speaking well before the downfall of the southern kingdom of Judah in 587 B.C. As mentioned earlier, either this prophecy is of a much later date than Isaiah, or it refers to events of which we have no other information. Although this is an important issue for scholars, for translators it is not a critical matter. The phrase the dispersed of Judah may be rendered “the people of Judah who have been scattered.” This line and the previous may be combined by saying “God will gather together the exiles from Israel and Judah.” Another possible model is “God will gather the exiles of Israel and bring back to Judah its people who are refugees.”

From the four corners of the earth is an English idiomatic rendering of the Hebrew, which is literally “from the four wings of the earth.” Most languages will have an idiomatic way of describing the surrounding world; for example, “the four winds of the earth,” “the four seas…,” and so on. The prophet is saying Yahweh will bring back his scattered people from wherever they have been taken as captives.

For the translation of this verse consider the following examples:

• Yahweh will signal to the nations and will gather together Israel’s outcasts and bring back to Judah its exiles from the four corners of the earth.

• He will raise a signal for the nations and from the ends of the earth gather Israel’s outcasts and Judah’s exiles.

Quoted with permission from Ogden, Graham S. and Sterk, Jan. A Handbook on Isaiah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2011. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .