Ezekiel 20:40

20:40 For there on my holy mountain, the high mountain of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord, all the house of Israel will serve me, all of them ¹  in the land. I will accept them there, and there I will seek your contributions and your choice gifts, with all your holy things.

Ezekiel 40:2

40:2 By means of divine visions ²  he brought me to the land of Israel and placed me on a very high mountain, ³  and on it was a structure like a city, to the south.

Psalms 2:6

2:6 “I myself ⁴  have installed ⁵  my king

on Zion, my holy hill.”

Psalms 72:16

72:16 May there be ⁶  an abundance ⁷  of grain in the earth;

on the tops ⁸  of the mountains may it ⁹  sway! ¹⁰ 

May its ¹¹  fruit trees ¹²  flourish ¹³  like the forests of Lebanon! ¹⁴ 

May its crops ¹⁵  be as abundant ¹⁶  as the grass of the earth! ¹⁷ 

Isaiah 2:2-3

2:2 In the future ¹⁸ 

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ¹⁹ 

as the most important of mountains,

and will be the most prominent of hills. ²⁰ 

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 ²¹  he can teach us his requirements, ²² 

and ²³  we can follow his standards.” ²⁴ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ²⁵ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ²⁶ 

Daniel 2:35

2:35 Then the iron, clay, bronze, silver, and gold were broken in pieces without distinction ²⁷  and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors that the wind carries away. Not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the statue became a large mountain that filled the entire earth.

Daniel 2:44-45

2:44 In the days of those kings the God of heaven will raise up an everlasting kingdom that will not be destroyed and a kingdom that will not be left to another people. It will break in pieces and bring about the demise of all these kingdoms. But it will stand forever. 2:45 You saw that a stone was cut from a mountain, but not by human hands; it smashed the iron, bronze, clay, silver, and gold into pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will occur in the future. ²⁸  The dream is certain, and its interpretation is reliable.”

Micah 4:1

Better Days Ahead for Jerusalem

4:1 In the future ²⁹  the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; ³⁰ 

it will be more prominent than other hills. ³¹ 

People will stream to it.

[20:40]  ¹ tn Heb “all of it.”

[40:2]  ² tn The expression introduces the three major visions of Ezekiel (1:1; 8:3; 40:2).

[40:2]  ³ tn The reference to a very high mountain is harmonious with Isa 2:2.

[2:6]  ⁴ tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”

[2:6]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”

[72:16]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect. The translation assumes the subject is impersonal (rather than the king).

[72:16]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew noun פִסַּה (pissah; which appears here in the construct form) occurs only here in the OT. Perhaps the noun is related to the verbal root פָּשָׂה (pasah, “to spread,” see BDB 832 s.v.; the root appears as פָּסָה [pasah] in postbiblical Hebrew), which is used in postbiblical Hebrew of the rising sun’s rays spreading over the horizon and a tree’s branches spreading out (see Jastrow 1194 s.v. פסי, פָּסָה, פָּשָׂה). In Ps 72:16 a “spreading of grain” would refer to grain fields extending out over the land. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:139) emend the form to סְפִיחַ (sÿfiakh, “second growth”).

[72:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “top” (singular).

[72:16]  ⁹ tn That is, the grain.

[72:16]  ¹⁰ tn According to the traditional accentuation of the MT, this verb belongs with what follows. See the translator’s note at the end of the verse for a discussion of the poetic parallelism and interpretation of the verse.

[72:16]  ¹¹ tn The antecedent of the third masculine singular pronominal suffix is unclear. It is unlikely that the antecedent is אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) because this noun is normally grammatically feminine. Perhaps רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “top [of the mountains]”) is the antecedent. Another option is to understand the pronoun as referring to the king, who would then be viewed as an instrument of divine agricultural blessing (see v. 6).

[72:16]  ¹² tn Heb “fruit.”

[72:16]  ¹³ tc According to the traditional accentuation of the MT, this verb belongs with what follows. See the note on the word “earth” at the end of the verse for a discussion of the poetic parallelism and interpretation of the verse. The present translation takes it with the preceding words, “like Lebanon its fruit” and emends the verb form from וְיָצִיצוּ (vÿyatsitsu; Qal imperfect third masculine plural with prefixed vav, [ו]) to יָצִיץ (yatsits; Qal imperfect third masculine singular). The initial vav is eliminated as dittographic (note the vav on the ending of the preceding form פִּרְיוֹ, piryo, “its/his fruit”) and the vav at the end of the form is placed on the following emended form (see the note on the word “crops”), yielding וַעֲמִיר (va’amir, “and [its] crops”).

[72:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like Lebanon.”

[72:16]  ¹⁵ tc The MT has “from the city.” The translation assumes an emendation to עֲמִיר (’amir, “crops”).

[72:16]  ¹⁶ tn The translation assumes that the verb צוץ (“flourish”) goes with the preceding line. The words “be as abundant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[72:16]  ¹⁷ tc The traditional accentuation and vocalization of the MT differ from the text assumed by the present translation. The MT reads as follows: “May there be an abundance of grain in the earth, / and on the tops of the mountains! / May its [or “his”?] fruit [trees?] rustle like [the trees of] Lebanon! / May they flourish from the city, like the grass of the earth!” If one follows the MT, then it would appear that the “fruit” of the third line is a metaphorical reference to the king’s people, who flow out from the cities to populate the land (see line 4). Elsewhere in the OT people are sometimes compared to grass that sprouts up from the land (see v. 7, as well as Isa 27:6; Pss 92:7; 103:15). The translation understands a different poetic structural arrangement and, assuming the emendations mentioned in earlier notes, interprets each line of the verse to be a prayer for agricultural abundance.

[2:2]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[2:2]  ²⁰ 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.

[2:3]  ²¹ 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).

[2:3]  ²² tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

[2:3]  ²³ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[2:35]  ²⁷ 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.

[2:45]  ²⁸ tn Aram “after this.”

[4:1]  ²⁹ tn Heb “at the end of days.”

[4:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”

[4:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”