Daniel 11:16

11:16 The one advancing against him will do as he pleases, and no one will be able to stand before him. He will prevail in the beautiful land, and its annihilation will be within his power. ¹ 

Daniel 11:41

11:41 Then he will enter the beautiful land. ²  Many ³  will fall, but these will escape: ⁴  Edom, Moab, and the Ammonite leadership.

Psalms 48:2

48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, ⁵ 

a source of joy to the whole earth. ⁶ 

Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; ⁷ 

it is the city of the great king.

Isaiah 2:2

2:2 In the future ⁸ 

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ⁹ 

as the most important of mountains,

and will be the most prominent of hills. ¹⁰ 

All the nations will stream to it,

Isaiah 14:13

14:13 You said to yourself, ¹¹ 

“I will climb up to the sky.

Above the stars of El ¹² 

I will set up my throne.

I will rule on the mountain of assembly

on the remote slopes of Zaphon. ¹³ 

Micah 4:2

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

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

to the temple ¹⁴  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ¹⁵ 

and we can live by his laws.” ¹⁶ 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ¹⁷ 

Micah 4:2

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

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

to the temple ¹⁸  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ¹⁹ 

and we can live by his laws.” ²⁰ 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ²¹ 

Micah 2:4

2:4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you –

they will mock you with this lament: ²² 

‘We are completely destroyed;

they sell off ²³  the property of my people.

How they remove it from me! ²⁴ 

They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ ²⁵ 

[11:16]  ¹ tn Heb “hand.”

[11:41]  ² sn The beautiful land is a cryptic reference to the land of Israel.

[11:41]  ³ tn This can be understood as “many people” (cf. NRSV) or “many countries” (cf. NASB, NIV, NLT).

[11:41]  ⁴ tn Heb “be delivered from his hand.”

[48:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.

[48:2]  ⁶ sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).

[48:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the Lord God of Israel lives and rules over the nations. See P. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 353, and T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 103.

[2:2]  ⁸ 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.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[2:2]  ¹⁰ 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.

[14:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you, you said in your heart.”

[14:13]  ¹² sn In Canaanite mythology the stars of El were astral deities under the authority of the high god El.

[14:13]  ¹³ sn Zaphon, the Canaanite version of Olympus, was the “mountain of assembly” where the gods met.

[4:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “ways.”

[4:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

[4:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[4:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[4:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “ways.”

[4:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

[4:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[2:4]  ²² tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי vÿnahah nÿhiy).

[2:4]  ²³ tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”

[2:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[2:4]  ²⁵ tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).