Jeremiah 17:3

17:3 and on the mountains and in the fields. ¹ 

I will give your wealth and all your treasures away as plunder.

I will give it away as the price ²  for the sins you have committed throughout your land.

Isaiah 2:2-3

2:2 In the future ³ 

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ⁴ 

as the most important of mountains,

and will be the most prominent of hills. ⁵ 

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 ⁶  he can teach us his requirements, ⁷ 

and ⁸  we can follow his standards.” ⁹ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ¹⁰ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ¹¹ 

Micah 4:1

Better Days Ahead for Jerusalem

4:1 In the future ¹²  the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; ¹³ 

it will be more prominent than other hills. ¹⁴ 

People will stream to it.

Zechariah 8:3

8:3 The Lord says, ‘I have returned to Zion and will live within Jerusalem. ¹⁵  Now Jerusalem will be called “truthful city,” “mountain of the Lord who rules over all,” “holy mountain.”’

[17:3]  ¹ tc This reading follows some of the ancient versions. The MT reads, “hills. My mountain in the open field [alluding to Jerusalem] and your wealth…I will give.” The vocalization of the noun plus pronoun and the unusual form of the expression to allude to Jerusalem calls into question the originality of the MT. The MT reads הֲרָרִי (harari) which combines the suffix for a singular noun with a pointing of the noun in the plural, a form which would be without parallel (compare the forms in Ps 30:8 for the singular noun with suffix and Deut 8:9 for the plural noun with suffix). Likewise, Jerusalem was not “in the open field.” For a similar expression compare Jer 13:27.

[17:3]  ² tc Or “I will give away your wealth, all your treasures, and your places of worship…” The translation follows the emendation suggested in the footnote in BHS, reading בִּמְחִיר (bimkhir) in place of בָּמֹתֶיךָ (bamotekha). The forms are graphically very close and one could explain the origin of either from the other. The parallel in 15:13-14 reads לֹא בִּמְחִיר (lo’ bimkhir). The text here may be a deliberate play on that one. The emended text makes decidedly better sense contextually than the MT unless some sardonic reference to their idolatry is intended.

[2:2]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

[2:2]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

[2:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

[2:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

[2:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[4:1]  ¹² tn Heb “at the end of days.”

[4:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”

[4:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”

[8:3]  ¹⁵ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.