Yahweh will rule over all peoples in the future

4 But Yahweh says that in the latter days,

the mountain where his temple stands will become the most important of all the mountains.

Yes, Yahweh will cause it to be the most important place,

and a lot of people from many different people groups will come there to worship.

2 People from many nations will gather and say to each other,

“Let us go to the mountain where Yahweh is,

to the temple where we can worship the God whom Jacob worshiped.

There God will teach us how he wants us to live,

and we will do what he tells us to do.”

Indeed, Zion is the place from which God will send out his instructions,

and from Jerusalem Yahweh will announce his messages.

3 Yahweh will settle disputes among many peoples

and will make decisions for powerful nations that are far away.

Then those peoples will reshape their implements of war

into implements for farming.

Armies of nations will no longer fight against armies of other nations,

and people will no longer train to be soldiers.

4 Everyone will sit peacefully under his own grapevines, and under his own fig trees,

and no one will cause any of them to be afraid.

That will certainly happen because Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, has commanded it.

5 Even though each one of all of the other people groups obeys its own god,

as for us, we will obey Yahweh our God forever.

6 Yahweh says, “At that time

I will gather the people who are injured and those who are scattered,

that is, everyone whom I have caused to suffer.

7 I will cause the injured ones to be the faithful survivors of my people

and I will cause all of those whom I drove away to become a mighty nation.

Then I, Yahweh, will rule over them on Mount Zion,

now and forever.

8 You people of Zion, who are like a watchtower on the hill guarding my people,

you will receive your former authority again.

Jerusalem will once again be the capitol of my kingdom.”

9 But now you are crying out,

and it is not because you have no king,

or because your advisors have all died.

You act as though you are suffering greatly, as much as a woman who is birthing a child!

10 People of Zion, you should agonize and wail like a woman birthing a child,

because now you must leave this city

and live out in the open fields.

You will go all the way to Babylon.

However, while you are there,

Yahweh will rescue you.

That is where he will take you away from your enemies.

11 But now the armies of many nations have gathered to attack you.

They are saying, “We are here to destroy this city!

We want to see the ruins of Zion!”

12 But as for them, they do not know what Yahweh is thinking.

They do not understand that this is what he has planned for them.

In fact, he has gathered them together to destroy them,

just as a farmer gathers grain onto a threshing floor to crush it.

13 So you people of Zion, become active and defeat your enemies!

You can do this because I will cause you to be very strong.

So destroy these many peoples

and give to me, Yahweh, the Ruler of the whole earth,

everything valuable that your enemies possess.

5 Now, people of Jerusalem, gather yourselves into a troop!

Even though you have a wall to protect your city, enemy soldiers have surrounded it.

They are here to overpower and humiliate the ruler of Israel.

2 However, I have something to say about Bethlehem in the region of Ephrathah.

Even though the clan that lives there is the smallest of the clans of Judah,

someone who will rule Israel for me will come from that town.

He has been active since ancient times, from eternity.

3 So God will allow Israel’s enemies to conquer them,

until the time when she who will bear gives birth.

Then the rest of those who, with him, are part of Israel

will rejoin their fellow Israelites.

4 Yahweh will strengthen him to rule and to care for his people

as majestically and authoritatively as if Yahweh, his God, were doing those things himself.

His people will live safely,

because, at that time, people all over the earth will honor him.

5 He will cause his people to prosper.

When the army of Assyria attacks our land

and breaks through our fortresses,

we will appoint many leaders

to lead our army to fight against them.

6 They will lead our army to rule the land of Assyria, that is, the territory that Nimrod founded long ago. The ruler will rescue us from the Assyrians when they cross our borders to invade our land. 7 Then the descendants of Jacob who have survived will live among many other peoples. They will be a blessing for those peoples, just as the dew and the rain are that Yahweh sends for the grass. They will depend on Yahweh to sustain them just as the grass does, and not on other people. 8 Yes, the descendants of Jacob who have survived will be in other nations, living among many other peoples. But they will be powerful, like a lion is among the other animals. If they need to do so, they can easily defeat those peoples, just as a young lion pounces on sheep and tears them apart, and no one can rescue them. 9 Yahweh, we want you to powerfully defeat all of your enemies and to destroy them completely! 10 Yahweh declares, “At that time,

I will take away your war horses

and I will destroy your chariots.

11 I will tear down the cities in your land

and I will destroy all of your fortresses.

12 I will stop you from practicing witchcraft and

there will be no more fortune tellers among you

. 13 I will take away your idols and your sacred stone pillars,

and then you will no longer worship things that you yourselves have made.

14 I will remove the poles that you use to worship the goddess Asherah,

and I will destroy your cities.

15 Because I am very angry,

I will severely punish the people of the nations that have not obeyed me.”