17:22 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:
“‘I will take a sprig 1 from the lofty top of the cedar and plant it. 2
I will pluck from the top one of its tender twigs;
I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
17:23 I will plant it on a high mountain of Israel,
and it will raise branches and produce fruit and become a beautiful cedar.
Every bird will live under it;
Every winged creature will live in the shade of its branches.
2:2 In the future 3
the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure 4
as the most important of mountains,
and will be the most prominent of hills. 5
All the nations will stream to it,
2:3 many peoples will come and say,
“Come, let us go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple of the God of Jacob,
so 6 he can teach us his requirements, 7
and 8 we can follow his standards.” 9
For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; 10
the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. 11
4:1 In the future 15 the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; 16
it will be more prominent than other hills. 17
People will stream to it.
1 sn The language is analogous to messianic imagery in Isa 11:1; Zech 3:8; 6:4 although the technical terminology is not the same.
2 tc The LXX lacks “and plant it.”
3 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.
4 tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).
5 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.
6 tn The prefixed verb form with simple vav (ו) introduces a purpose/result clause after the preceding prefixed verb form (probably to be taken as a cohortative; see IBHS 650 §39.2.2a).
7 tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.
8 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.
9 tn Heb “walk in his ways.”
10 tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”
11 tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”
12 tn Aram “until.”
13 tc The LXX, Theodotion, and the Vulgate have “from a mountain,” though this is probably a harmonization with v. 45.
14 tn Aram “as one.” For the meaning “without distinction” see the following: F. Rosenthal, Grammar, 36, §64, and p. 93; E. Vogt, Lexicon linguae aramaicae, 60.
15 tn Heb “at the end of days.”
16 tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”
17 tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”
18 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “so” to indicate the implied result of the angel’s invitation.
19 tn Or “in the spirit.” “Spirit” could refer either to the Holy Spirit or the human spirit, but in either case John was in “a state of spiritual exaltation best described as a trance” (R. H. Mounce, Revelation [NICNT], 75).
20 tn Grk “to a mountain great and high.”