Better Days Ahead for Jerusalem

¹In the future the Lord ’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all;[#tn Heb “at the end of days.”; #tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”]

it will be more prominent than other hills.

People will stream to it.

²Many nations will come, saying,

“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord ’s mountain,

to the temple of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands

and we can live by his laws.”

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord ’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem.

³He will arbitrate between many peoples[#tn Or “judge.”]

and settle disputes between many distant nations.

They will beat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nations will not use weapons against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

⁴Each will sit under his own grapevine

or under his own fig tree without any fear.

The Lord who commands armies has decreed it.

⁵Though all the nations follow their respective gods,[#tn Heb “walk each in the name of his god.” The term “name” here has the idea of “authority.” To “walk in the name” of a god is to recognize the god’s authority as binding over one’s life.]

we will follow the Lord our God forever.

Restoration Will Follow Crisis

⁶“In that day,” says the Lord , “I will gather the lame,

and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.

⁷I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation,[#tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”]

and those far off into a mighty nation.

The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,

from that day forward and forevermore.”

⁸As for you, watchtower for the flock,[#tn Heb “Migdal-eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).]

fortress of Daughter Zion –

your former dominion will be restored,

the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.

⁹Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly?[#tn The Hebrew form is feminine singular, indicating that Jerusalem, personified as a young woman, is now addressed (see v. 10). In v. 8 the tower/fortress was addressed with masculine forms, so there is clearly a shift in addressee here. “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation at the beginning of v. 9 to make this shift apparent.; #tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”]

Has your king disappeared?

Has your wise leader been destroyed?

Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?

¹⁰Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor![#tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”]

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver you

from the power of your enemies.

¹¹Many nations have now assembled against you.

They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated,

so we can gloat over Zion!”

¹²But they do not know what the Lord is planning;

they do not understand his strategy.

He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor.

¹³“Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!

For I will give you iron horns;

I will give you bronze hooves,

and you will crush many nations.”

You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,

and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.