Yesaya 2:2-3

2:2 In the future ¹ 

the mountain of the Lord’s temple will endure ² 

as the most important of mountains,

and will be the most prominent of hills. ³ 

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 ⁴  he can teach us his requirements, ⁵ 

and ⁶  we can follow his standards.” ⁷ 

For Zion will be the center for moral instruction; ⁸ 

the Lord will issue edicts from Jerusalem. ⁹ 

Yesaya 49:22-23

49:22 This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“Look I will raise my hand to the nations;

I will raise my signal flag to the peoples.

They will bring your sons in their arms

and carry your daughters on their shoulders.

49:23 Kings will be your children’s ¹⁰  guardians;

their princesses will nurse your children. ¹¹ 

With their faces to the ground they will bow down to you

and they will lick the dirt on ¹²  your feet.

Then you will recognize that I am the Lord;

those who wait patiently for me are not put to shame.

Yesaya 66:23-24

66:23 From one month ¹³  to the next and from one Sabbath to the next, all people ¹⁴  will come to worship me,” ¹⁵  says the Lord. 66:24 “They will go out and observe the corpses of those who rebelled against me, for the maggots that eat them will not die, ¹⁶  and the fire that consumes them will not die out. ¹⁷  All people will find the sight abhorrent.” ¹⁸ 

¹ 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 tn Or “be established” (KJV, NIV, NRSV).

³ 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.

⁴ 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).

⁵ tn Heb “his ways.” In this context God’s “ways” are the standards of moral conduct he decrees that people should live by.

⁶ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) after the prefixed verb form indicates the ultimate purpose/goal of their action.

⁷ tn Heb “walk in his ways.”

⁸ tn Heb “for out of Zion will go instruction.”

⁹ tn Heb “the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “your,” but Zion here stands by metonymy for her children (see v. 22b).

¹¹ tn Heb “you.” See the preceding note.

¹² tn Or “at your feet” (NAB, NIV); NLT “from your feet.”

¹³ tn Heb “new moon.” The verb that introduces this verse serves as a discourse particle and is untranslated; see note on “in the future” in 2:2.

¹⁴ tn Heb “all flesh” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV); NAB, NASB, NIV “all mankind”; NLT “All humanity.”

¹⁵ tn Or “bow down before” (NASB).

¹⁶ tn Heb “for their worm will not die.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “and their fire will not be extinguished.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “and they will be an abhorrence to all flesh.”

sn This verse depicts a huge mass burial site where the seemingly endless pile of maggot-infested corpses are being burned.