Zechariah 8:6

8:6 And,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘though such a thing may seem to be difficult in the opinion of the small community of those days, will it also appear difficult to me?’ asks the Lord who rules over all.

Micah 4:6-7

Restoration Will Follow Crisis

4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,

and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. ¹ 

4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, ² 

and those far off ³  into a mighty nation.

The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,

from that day forward and forevermore.” ⁴ 

Micah 4:1

Better Days Ahead for Jerusalem

4:1 In the future ⁵  the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; ⁶ 

it will be more prominent than other hills. ⁷ 

People will stream to it.

Colossians 3:21

3:21 Fathers, ⁸  do not provoke ⁹  your children, so they will not become disheartened.

¹ sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.

² tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”

³ tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).

⁴ tn Heb “from now until forever.”

⁵ tn Heb “at the end of days.”

⁶ tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”

⁷ tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”

⁸ tn Or perhaps “Parents.” The plural οἱ πατέρες (Joi patere", “fathers”) can be used to refer to both the male and female parent (BDAG 786 s.v. πατήρ 1.a).

⁹ tn Or “do not cause your children to become resentful” (L&N 88.168). BDAG 391 s.v. ἐρεθίζω states, “to cause someone to react in a way that suggests acceptance of a challenge, arouse, provoke mostly in bad sense irritate, embitter.”