Isaiah 2:3

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 ¹  he can teach us his requirements, ² 

and ³  we can follow his standards.” ⁴ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ⁵ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 50:4-5

50:4 “When that time comes,” says the Lord, ⁷ 

“the people of Israel and Judah will return to the land together.

They will come back with tears of repentance

as they seek the Lord their God. ⁸ 

50:5 They will ask the way to Zion;

they will turn their faces toward it.

They will come ⁹  and bind themselves to the Lord

in a lasting covenant that will never be forgotten. ¹⁰ 

Micah 4:2

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

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

to the temple ¹¹  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ¹² 

and we can live by his laws.” ¹³ 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ¹⁴ 

¹ 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).

² tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

³ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

⁴ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

⁵ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

⁷ tn Heb “oracle of the Lord.”

⁸ tn Heb “and the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together. They shall go, weeping as they go, and they will seek the Lord their God.” The concept of “seeking” the Lord often has to do with seeking the Lord in worship (by sacrifice [Hos 5:6; 2 Chr 11:16]; prayer [Zech 8:21, 22; 2 Sam 12:16; Isa 65:1; 2 Chr 15:4]). In Hos 7:10 it is in parallel with returning to the Lord. In Ps 69:6 it is in parallel with hoping in or trusting in the Lord. Perhaps the most helpful parallels here, however, are Hos 3:5 (in comparison with Jer 30:9) and 2 Chr 15:15 where it is in the context of a covenant commitment to be loyal to the Lord which is similar to the context here (see the next verse). The translation is admittedly paraphrastic but “seeking the Lord” does not mean here looking for God as though he were merely a person to be found.

⁹ tc The translation here assumes that the Hebrew בֹּאוּ (bo’u; a Qal imperative masculine plural) should be read בָּאוּ (ba’u; a Qal perfect third plural). This reading is presupposed by the Greek version of Aquila, the Latin version, and the Targum (see BHS note a, which mistakenly assumes that the form must be imperfect).

¹⁰ sn See Jer 32:40 and the study note there for the nature of this lasting agreement.

¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

¹² tn Heb “ways.”

¹³ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”