The word Behold is used to grab attention. Good News Translation has “Look.” Many languages will use a similar word. See the comments on Bar 2.25 and 3.8.
Your sons … whom you sent away: Sent away here does not mean that Jerusalem voluntarily sent her children off (see the comments on verse 11). She sent them away only in the sense that she had said farewell to them when they were forced away. So Good News Translation has “the children that were taken from you,” and Contemporary English Version says “They were once dragged away as captives.” We may also express this as “your children whom your enemies once dragged away as captives.” Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version are correct to refer to the sons in the broader sense as “children,” but in the usual sense of this passage, it refers to people of all ages (see the comments on verse 12). “Children” is used here as a term of affection, not to indicate their age.
They are coming, gathered from east and west: They are coming is an effective repetition, adding a note of excitement to the emotional tone of the verse. Good News Translation is sensitive to this and retains it, although moving it to the last sentence of the verse: “And now they are coming home….” From east and west is a Hebrew idiom meaning “from everywhere, from all directions”; it is not necessary that these two particular directions be named. Compare Isa 43.5, 59.19; Zech 8.7.
At the word of the Holy One: This may be rendered “by the command of God, the Holy One” (Good News Translation), or even “when God, the Holy One, gave the command.” For the Holy One, see the comments at verse 22. The last line of the previous verse and the first three lines of this verse may be combined as follows: “Jerusalem, look toward the east and be glad, because God, the one you serve, is bringing home your children who were taken from you. He has given the command and they have been gathered together from everywhere.”
Rejoicing in the glory of God: The people are happy that God, in all his greatness, has a place for them to live, and that, with all his great power, he has rescued them. God is radiant in greatness, goodness, and power. This is his glory (see the comments on verse 24), and his rescued people can well rejoice that such a God is their God. As they leave the land of exile, they are enjoying the light of his favor, gratefully celebrating his goodness. In some languages translators may render this line as “praising God’s glorious [or, great/marvelous] power.”
Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Shorter Books of the Deuterocanon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2006. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.