Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this verse is that it contains close quotes from Second Isaiah. The first two lines repeat exactly the words of 49.18a. It is clear then that the prophet known as Third Isaiah was very familiar with the words of Second Isaiah. Both prophets follow in the tradition of (the First) Isaiah.

Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you: See the comments on 49.18. As there, the Hebrew imperative verbs rendered Lift up and see are feminine singular, since the city of Jerusalem is being addressed (see the introductory comments on this section [60.1-22]). In 49.18 the pronoun they referred to the people of Judah returning to the city from exile in Babylonia, but here the context is different. Many exiles are already back in Jerusalem, so this verse promises the return of all the remaining exiles no matter where they are.

Your sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be carried in the arms: These two parallel lines also refer to the return of the remaining exiles. They echo the language in 49.12 and 22 (see the comments there). In 49.22 the text says the daughters will be carried “on their shoulders,” but here it says in the arms, which is literally “on the side,” meaning “on the hip.” This was a traditional way of carrying a child, and probably remains so in many cultures even today. An alternative model for these two lines is “Your people will come [home] from afar; they will be brought back like children that are carried on the back/hip/shoulders of their parents.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh says “Your sons shall be brought from afar, Your daughters like babes on shoulders.”

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 .