In Hebrew this verse is literally “Behold, these from afar will come, and behold these from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinim.” The three occurrences of “these from” indicate that three groups of people will come from distant places. All three are linked to the verb “come.” The demonstrative pronoun “these” refers to the “prisoners” of verse 9, that is, the exiled Israelites who will return home. So the main point of verse 12 is that God will bring Israelites back to Jerusalem from wherever they had been taken or had fled. There will be a new beginning for all these people as God leads them home. The repetition of “behold” and “these” should be kept in translation if possible since they emphasize the full extent of the people’s return.

Lo, these shall come from afar is the main clause. It is expanded in the next two lines to indicate the location of the far places. The word Lo calls special attention to the fact that the people will come from distant lands. Many translations ignore it, but New International Version renders it “See,” while New Jerusalem Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh have “Look!” From afar repeats the phrase used in verse 1, so it establishes a literary link to the first section of this chapter. “Peoples from afar” in verse 1 referred to other nations, but these … from afar points to the Israelites returning home from faraway places.

And lo, these from the north and from the west: The word lo is used again to call attention to what follows. New Jerusalem Bible renders it “look.” In the historical setting of these chapters, north and west were the two main directions to which captives from Judah were taken. Babylonia lay to the north of Judah. The west refers to the areas around the Mediterranean Sea. These from the north and the west is probably a general statement regarding Israelites returning home from all over the world, not just those exiled in Babylonia. But it could also refer to non-Israelite people, converging on Judah, but this is less likely. We recommend a fairly literal translation, implying that it points to people of Judah returning home (so Good News Translation).

And these from the land of Syene: Masoretic Text has “Sinim,” but Dead Sea Scrolls reads “the Syenians” (NJPSV footnote|prj:NJPS.Isa 49.12). Hebrew Old Testament Text Project recommends Syene, which we support. Syene was almost certainly an area in Upper Egypt, known today as Aswan (so Good News Translation, New International Version). Jer 44.1 refers to Jews who were living in Egypt, many of them having fled there at the time of the Babylonian invasion (see 19.18). Other Jews may have migrated there for different reasons. So Syene refers to those who will come from the south, in addition to those coming from the north and the west. Translators should provide a footnote to indicate that Syene was located in Egypt.

Translation examples for this verse are:

• Look, these will come from distant lands,
look, these will come from the north and from the west,
and these will come from the land of Syene [in Egypt].”

• See, people will come from afar,
see, people will come from the north and the west,
people will come from the land of “swan.”

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 .