49:1 Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together so I can tell you 1 what will happen to you in the future. 2
2:2 In the future 7
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure 8
as the most important of mountains,
and will be the most prominent of hills. 9
All the nations will stream to it,
30:24 The anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has fully carried out his intended purposes.
In days to come you will come to understand this. 10
48:47 Yet in days to come
I will reverse Moab’s ill fortune.” 11
says the Lord. 12
The judgment against Moab ends here.
4:1 In the future 20 the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; 21
it will be more prominent than other hills. 22
People will stream to it.
4:2 Many nations will come, saying,
“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple 23 of Jacob’s God,
so he can teach us his commands 24
and we can live by his laws.” 25
For Zion will be the source of instruction;
the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. 26
4:2 Many nations will come, saying,
“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple 27 of Jacob’s God,
so he can teach us his commands 28
and we can live by his laws.” 29
For Zion will be the source of instruction;
the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. 30
3:1 I said,
“Listen, you leaders 31 of Jacob,
you rulers of the nation 32 of Israel!
You ought to know what is just, 33
1:1 After God spoke long ago 34 in various portions 35 and in various ways 36 to our ancestors 37 through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, 38 whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. 39
1 tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.
2 tn The expression “in the future” (אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים, ’akharit hayyamim, “in the end of days”) is found most frequently in prophetic passages; it may refer to the end of the age, the eschaton, or to the distant future. The contents of some of the sayings in this chapter stretch from the immediate circumstances to the time of the settlement in the land to the coming of Messiah. There is a great deal of literature on this chapter, including among others C. Armerding, “The Last Words of Jacob: Genesis 49,” BSac 112 (1955): 320-28; H. Pehlke, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Genesis 49:1-28” (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985); and B. Vawter, “The Canaanite Background of Genesis 49,” CBQ 17 (1955): 1-18.
3 tn The construction is the particle הִנֵּה (hinneh) suffixed followed by the active participle. This is the futur instans use of the participle, to express something that is about to happen: “I am about to go.”
4 tn Heb “in the latter days.” For more on this expression, see E. Lipinski, “באחרית הימים dans les textes préexiliques,” VT 20 (1970): 445-50.
5 sn The phrase is not used here in a technical sense for the eschaton, but rather refers to a future time when Israel will be punished for its sin and experience exile. See Deut 31:29.
6 tn Heb “hear his voice.” The expression is an idiom meaning “obey,” occurring in Deut 8:20; 9:23; 13:18; 21:18, 20; 26:14, 17; 27:10; 28:1-2, 15, 45, 62; 30:2, 8, 10, 20.
7 tn Heb “in the end of the days.” This phrase may refer generally to the future, or more technically to the final period of history. See BDB 31 s.v. ַאחֲרִית. The verse begins with a verb that functions as a “discourse particle” and is not translated. In numerous places throughout the OT, the “to be” verb with a prefixed conjunction (וְהָיָה [vÿhayah] and וַיְהִי [vayÿhi]) occurs in this fashion to introduce a circumstantial clause and does not require translation.
8 tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).
9 tn Heb “as the chief of the mountains, and will be lifted up above the hills.” The image of Mount Zion being elevated above other mountains and hills pictures the prominence it will attain in the future.
10 sn Jer 30:23-24 are almost a verbatim repetition of 23:19-20. There the verses were addressed to the people of Jerusalem as a warning that the false prophets had no intimate awareness of the
11 tn See 29:14; 30:3 and the translator’s note on 29:14 for the idiom used here.
12 tn Heb “Oracle of the
13 tn Heb “from the sword.”
14 tn Heb “it.”
15 tn Heb “come up.”
16 tn Or “reveal my holiness.”
17 tn Heb “David their king”; cf. NCV “the king from David’s family”; TEV “a descendant of David their king”; NLT “David’s descendant, their king.”
18 tn Heb “his goodness”; NLT “his good gifts.”
19 tn Heb “in the end of the days.” Cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, NLT “in the last days.”
20 tn Heb “at the end of days.”
21 tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”
22 tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”
23 tn Heb “house.”
24 tn Heb “ways.”
25 tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”
26 tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the
27 tn Heb “house.”
28 tn Heb “ways.”
29 tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”
30 tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the
31 tn Heb “heads.”
32 tn Heb “house.”
33 tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”
34 tn Or “spoke formerly.”
35 tn Or “parts.” The idea is that God’s previous revelation came in many parts and was therefore fragmentary or partial (L&N 63.19), in comparison with the final and complete revelation contained in God’s Son. However, some interpret πολυμερῶς (polumerw") in Heb 1:1 to mean “on many different occasions” and would thus translate “many times” (L&N 67.11). This is the option followed by the NIV: “at many times and in various ways.” Finally, this word is also understood to refer to the different manners in which something may be done, and would then be translated “in many different ways” (L&N 89.81). In this last case, the two words πολυμερῶς and πολυτρόπως (polutropw") mutually reinforce one another (“in many and various ways,” NRSV).
36 tn These two phrases are emphasized in Greek by being placed at the beginning of the sentence and by alliteration.
37 tn Grk “to the fathers.”
38 tn The Greek puts an emphasis on the quality of God’s final revelation. As such, it is more than an indefinite notion (“a son”) though less than a definite one (“the son”), for this final revelation is not just through any son of God, nor is the emphasis specifically on the person himself. Rather, the focus here is on the nature of the vehicle of God’s revelation: He is no mere spokesman (or prophet) for God, nor is he merely a heavenly messenger (or angel); instead, this final revelation comes through one who is intimately acquainted with the heavenly Father in a way that only a family member could be. There is, however, no exact equivalent in English (“in son” is hardly good English style).
39 tn Grk “the ages.” The temporal (ages) came to be used of the spatial (what exists in those time periods). See Heb 11:3 for the same usage.