Old/New Testament
The Law Will Come From Jerusalem
4 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s Temple
will be on the highest of all mountains.
It will be raised higher than the hills.
There will be a steady stream of people going there.
2 People from many nations will go there and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Temple of the God of Jacob.
Then God will teach us his way of living,
and we will follow him.”
His teaching, the Lord’s message, will begin in Jerusalem on Mount Zion
and will go out to all the world.
3 Then God will act as judge to end arguments between people in many places.
He will decide what is right for great nations far and near.
They will stop using their weapons for war.
They will hammer their swords into plows
and use their spears to make tools for harvesting.
All fighting between nations will end.
They will never again train for war.
4 They will sit under their own
grapevine and fig tree.
No one will make them afraid.
That is because the Lord All-Powerful said it would happen like that.
5 All the people from other nations follow their own gods,
but we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever![a]
The Kingdom to Be Brought Back
6 The Lord says,
“Jerusalem was hurt and crippled.
She was thrown away.
She was hurt and punished,
but I will bring her back to me.
7 “The people of that ‘crippled’ city
will be the only ones left alive.
They were forced to leave,
but I will make them into a strong nation.”
The Lord will be their king.
He will rule from Mount Zion forever.
8 And you, Tower of Flocks,[b]
your time will come.
Ophel, hill of Zion,
you will again have the right to rule.
Yes, the kingdom will be in Jerusalem
as it was in the past.
Why Must the Israelites Go to Babylon?
9 Now, why are you crying so loudly?
Is your king gone?
Have you lost your wise leader?
Is that why you are suffering like a woman in labor?
10 Cry out, you people of Jerusalem,[c] and feel the pain,
as if you were giving birth.
You must go out of the city
and live in the fields.
You will go away to Babylon,
but you will also be saved from that place.
The Lord will come and rescue you there.
He will take you away from your enemies.
The Lord Will Destroy the Other Nations
11 Many nations have come to fight against you.
They say, “Look, there is Zion!
Let’s attack her!”
12 They have their plans,
but they don’t know what the Lord is planning.
He brought them here for a special purpose.
They will be crushed like grain on a threshing floor.
Israel Will Defeat Its Enemies
13 “People of Jerusalem, get up and crush them!
I will make you very strong.
It will be as if you have horns of iron and hooves of bronze.
You will beat many people into small pieces.
You will give their wealth to the Lord.
You will give their treasure to the Lord of all the earth.”
5 Now strong city,[d] gather your soldiers!
They are surrounding us for the attack!
They will hit the Judge of Israel
on the cheek with a stick.
The Messiah to Be Born in Bethlehem
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
are the smallest town in Judah.
Your family is almost too small to count,
but the “Ruler of Israel” will come from you to rule for me.
His beginnings[e] are from ancient times,
from long, long ago.
3 The Lord will let his people be defeated
until the woman gives birth to her child, the promised king.
Then the rest of his brothers will come back
to join the people of Israel.
4 He will begin to rule Israel in the power of the Lord.
Like a shepherd, he will lead his people in the wonderful name of the Lord his God.
And they will live in safety
because then his greatness will be known all over the world.
5 He will bring a time of peace.
Yes, the Assyrian army will come into our country
and march through our land.[f]
But we have plenty of leaders[g]
we can send against them.
6 With swords in hand our leaders will defeat the Assyrians
and rule the land of Nimrod.[h]
They[i] will save us from the Assyrians
when they come into our land and march through our territory.
7 But those from Jacob who are still living and scattered among the nations
will be like dew from the Lord that does not depend on anyone.
They will be like rain on the grass
that does not wait for anyone.
8 Those from Jacob who are still living
are scattered among the nations.
But they will be like a lion among the animals in the forest.
They will be like a young lion among flocks of sheep.
If the lion passes through,
he goes where he wants to go.
If he attacks an animal,
no one can save it.
The survivors will be like that.
9 You will lift your hand against your enemies,
and you will destroy them.
People Will Depend on God
10 The Lord says,
“At that time I will take away your horses,
and I will destroy your chariots.
11 I will destroy the cities in your country.
I will pull down all your fortresses.
12 You will no longer try to do magic.
You will have no more fortunetellers.
13 I will destroy your statues of false gods.
I will pull down your memorial stones.
You will not worship what your hands have made.
14 I will destroy the Asherah poles
and your false gods.[j]
15 Some nations will not listen to me,
but I will show my anger and get my revenge.”
The Woman Giving Birth and the Dragon
12 And then a great wonder appeared in heaven: There was a woman who was clothed with the sun, and the moon was under her feet. She had a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant and cried out with pain because she was about to give birth.
3 Then another wonder appeared in heaven: There was a giant red dragon there. The dragon had seven heads with a crown on each head. It also had ten horns. 4 Its tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and threw them down to the earth. It stood in front of the woman who was ready to give birth to the baby. It wanted to eat the woman’s baby as soon as it was born.
5 The woman gave birth to a son, who would rule all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was taken up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman ran away into the desert to a place that God had prepared for her. There she would be taken care of for 1260 days.
7 Then there was a war in heaven. Michael[a] and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and its angels fought back, 8 but they were not strong enough. The dragon and its angels lost their place in heaven. 9 It was thrown down out of heaven. (This giant dragon is that old snake, the one called the devil or Satan, who leads the whole world into the wrong way.) The dragon and its angels were thrown to the earth.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say, “The victory and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Messiah have now come. These things have come, because the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown out. He is the one who accused them day and night before our God. 11 They defeated him by the blood sacrifice of the Lamb and by the message of God that they told people. They did not love their lives too much. They were not afraid of death. 12 So rejoice, you heavens and all who live there! But it will be terrible for the earth and sea, because the devil has gone down to you. He is filled with anger. He knows he doesn’t have much time.”
13 The dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth. So he chased the woman who had given birth to the child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of a great eagle. Then she could fly to the place that was prepared for her in the desert. There she would be taken care of for three and a half years. There she would be away from the dragon.[b] 15 Then the dragon poured water out of its mouth like a river. It poured the water toward the woman so that the flood would carry her away. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that came from the mouth of the dragon. 17 Then the dragon was very angry with the woman. It went away to make war against all her other children. Her children are those who obey God’s commands and have the truth that Jesus taught.
18 The dragon stood on the seashore.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International