Old/New Testament
The Mountain of the Lord(A)
4 Then it will be that in the latter days,
the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established
as head of the mountains,
and will be lifted up above the hills;
and people will stream to it.
2 And many nations will come and say,
“Come, that we might go up to the mountain of the Lord,
and to the house of the God of Jacob,
that He might teach us His ways,
and that we might walk in His paths.”
For from Zion will go forth the law,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 Then He will judge between many peoples
and mediate for mighty nations far and wide;
they will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
and they will no longer train for war.
4 Then each man will sit under his vine
and under his fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.
5 For all the peoples may walk,
each in the name of his God,
but we will walk in the name of the Lord
our God forever and ever.
The Promise of Restoration
6 In that day, declares the Lord,
I will assemble the lame
and gather the banished
and those whom I have afflicted;
7 and I will make the lame into a remnant,
and the banished into a mighty nation;
and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion
from this time forth and forevermore.
8 As for you, watchtower of the flock,
citadel of the daughter of Zion,
to you it will come, the former dominion will come,
kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now why do you cry loudly?
Have you no king?
Has your counselor perished,
that agony has seized you like the woman in labor?
10 Writhe and bring forth, daughter of Zion,
like the woman in labor,
because now you will go forth from the city
and reside in the field,
and you will come to Babylon.
There you will be rescued;
there the Lord will redeem you
from the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations
are gathered against you, saying,
“May she be defiled,
and may our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
12 But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord,
and they do not understand His plan,
that He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron;
your hoofs I will make bronze,
and you will shatter many peoples.
I will devote their pillage to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
The Ruler From Bethlehem
5 Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops;
he has laid siege against us.
With a rod they will strike
the judge of Israel on the cheek.
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
although you are small among the tribes of Judah,
from you will come forth for Me
one who will be ruler over Israel.
His origins are from of old,
from ancient days.
3 Therefore He will give them up,
until the time when she who is in labor has given birth,
and the rest of his brothers will return
to the children of Israel.
4 He will stand and shepherd
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God;
then they will live securely, because now He will be great
until the ends of the earth;
5 and He will be their peace.
The Remnant of Jacob Delivered
When Assyria enters our land
and treads through our palaces,
then we will raise up against him seven shepherds
and eight commanders of men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
and the land of Nimrod at her gates;
He will rescue us from Assyria,
when he enters our land
and when he treads within our border.
7 Then the remnant of Jacob will be
in the midst of many peoples,
like dew from the Lord,
like showers upon the grass,
which do not wait for a man
and do not linger for the sons of men.
8 The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which when it passes through, tramples and mauls,
without rescuer.
9 Your hand will be lifted up over your adversaries,
and all your enemies will be cut off.
10 And in that day, declares the Lord,
I will cut off your horses from among you,
and I will destroy your chariots.
11 Then I will cut off the cities of your land,
and I will overthrow your strongholds;
12 then I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you will no longer have fortune-tellers.
13 Then I will cut off your idols,
and your sacred stones from among you,
and you will no longer bow down
to the work of your hands;
14 then I will root out your Asherah idols from among you,
and I will annihilate your cities.
15 And in anger and wrath I will take vengeance
on the nations that have not listened.
The Woman and the Dragon
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was with child and cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as He was born. 5 She gave birth to a male Child, “who was to rule all nations with an iron scepter.”[a] And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, that they may nourish her there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was there a place for them in heaven any longer. 9 The great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying:
“Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brothers,
who accused them before our God day and night,
has been cast down.
11 They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives
unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!
For the devil has come down to you in great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short.”
13 When the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 Then the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and he went to wage war with the remnant of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.