31:27 “Indeed, a time is coming,” 1 says the Lord, 2 “when I will cause people and animals to sprout up in the lands of Israel and Judah. 3
27:6 The time is coming when Jacob will take root; 5
Israel will blossom and grow branches.
The produce 6 will fill the surface of the world. 7
60:22 The least of you will multiply into 8 a thousand;
the smallest of you will become a large nation.
When the right time comes, I the Lord will quickly do this!” 9
36:13 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Because they are saying to you, “You are a devourer of men, and bereave your nation of children,” 36:14 therefore you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children, declares the sovereign Lord. 36:15 I will no longer subject you to 13 the nations’ insults; no longer will you bear the shame of the peoples, and no longer will you bereave 14 your nation, declares the sovereign Lord.’”
36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says: I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: 15 I will multiply their people like sheep. 16
1 tn Heb “Behold days are coming!” The particle “Behold” is probably used here to emphasize the reality of a fact. See the translator’s note on 1:6.
2 tn Heb “Oracle of the
3 tn Heb “Behold, the days are coming and [= when] I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of people and of animals.” For the significance of the metaphor see the study note.
4 tn Heb “Just as the stars in the sky cannot be numbered or the sand on the seashore cannot be measured, so I will greatly increase [or multiply] the seed of my servant David and the Levites who minister before me.” The word “seed of” does not carry over to the “the Levites” as a noun governing two genitives because “the Levites” has the accusative marker in front of it. The sentence has been broken down in conformity with contemporary English style.
5 tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “the coming ones, let Jacob take root.” הַבָּאִים (habba’im, “the coming ones”) should probably be emended to יָמִים בָאִים (yamim va’im, “days [are] coming”) or בְּיָמִים הַבָּאִים (biyamim habba’im, “in the coming days”).
6 tn Heb “fruit” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
7 sn This apparently refers to a future population explosion. See 26:18.
8 tn Heb “will become” (so NASB, NIV).
9 tn Heb “I, the Lord, in its time, I will quickly do it.”
10 tn Heb “I will multiply on you human(s).”
11 sn These verbs occur together in Gen 1:22, 28; 9:1.
12 tn Heb “your beginning.”
13 tn Heb “cause you to hear.”
14 tc The MT reads תַכְשִׁלִי (takhshiliy), a metathesis for תַשְׁכִלִי (tashkhiliy) from the root שָׁכַל (shakhal) which is used in each of the previous verses.
15 tn The Niphal verb may have a tolerative function here, “Again (for) this I will allow myself to be sought by the house of Israel to act for them.” Or it may be reflexive: “I will reveal myself to the house of Israel by doing this also.”
16 sn Heb “I will multiply them like sheep, human(s).”
17 sn See Isa 24:5; 55:3; 61:8; Jer 32:40; 50:5; Ezek 16:60, for other references to perpetual covenants.
18 tn Heb “give them.”
19 sn That is, to Zechariah.
20 tn Heb “Jerusalem will dwell as open regions (פְּרָזוֹת, pÿrazot)”; cf. NAB “in open country”; CEV “won’t have any boundaries.” The population will be so large as to spill beyond the ancient and normal enclosures. The people need not fear, however, for the
21 sn The references to longevity and to children living and playing in peace are eschatological in tone. Elsewhere the millennial kingdom is characterized in a similar manner (cf. Isa 65:20; Jer 31:12-13).