Chapter 4

1 And in future days the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; it will be more prominent than other hills. People will stream to it.⁠ 2 Many nations will come, saying, “Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of Jacob’s God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws.”⁠ For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord’s message from Jerusalem. 3 He will arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.⁠ 4 Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear.⁠ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it. 5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever.⁠ 6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. 7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation and those far off into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from that day forward and forevermore. 8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of Daughter Zion—your former dominion will be restored, the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”⁠ 9 Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?⁠ 10 Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies. 11 Many nations have now assembled against you. They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion!” 12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor. 13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion! For I will give you iron horns; I will give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations.” You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Joel 3:10 and Micah 4:3

Hebrew Bible

Summary

Micah describes a future where nations abandon war and reshape weapons into farming tools, expressing peace after divine judgment. Joel reverses this, calling for plows to be turned into swords because of the gathering of nations for a final battle.

Passages

Joel 3:10

Hebrew Bible

8 I will sell your sons and daughters to the people of Judah. They will sell them to the Sabeans, a nation far away.” Indeed, the Lord has spoken. 9 Proclaim this among the nations: “Prepare for a holy war! Call out the warriors! Let all these fighting men approach and attack! 10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, ‘I too am a warrior!’ 11 Lend your aid and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves to that place.” Bring down, O Lord, your warriors! 12 “Let the nations be roused and let them go up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit in judgment on all the surrounding nations.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Joel

Micah 4:3

Hebrew Bible

1 And in future days the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; it will be more prominent than other hills. People will stream to it. 2 Many nations will come, saying, “Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of Jacob’s God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws.” For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord’s message from Jerusalem. 3 He will arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they will no longer train for war. 4 Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it. 5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever.

600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Micah

References

"... One of the few prophetic books without a date, Joel was probably written after the Babylonian Exile. Its first two chapters describe a vague and terrifying threat to Jerusalem (1:1–2:11) that culminates in a call to collective repentance (2:12–17) and a divine response (2:18–32). Chapters 3 and 4 describe God’s intervention on Judah’s behalf, the restoration of its fortunes, and its engagement in a cosmic battle against national foes. Joel marks an important transition from the language of earlier prophecy to the apocalyptic eschatological ideas that become prominent in post-biblical Judaism and early Christianity. Joel frequently refers to prior scripture, transforming its meaning in the process. For example, Joel 3:10 reverses the call to beat swords into plowshares found in Micah 4:3 and Isaiah 2:4. Joel also reimagines the “Day of YHWH,” an important theological concept in early Israel. Originally, it referred to the belief in God’s climactic intervention in history to defend the nation (Isaiah 34). Amos had mocked naive faith in YHWH’s uncritical support of Israel, suggesting instead that the Day of YHWH meant judgment and not salvation (Amos 5:18–20). For Joel, the Day of YHWH retains this ambivalent character (1:15–18), but the conflict swiftly escalates from an earthly battle (2:1, 11) to a cosmic war (4:14–16). In this new understanding, the Day of YHWH also describes the nation’s ultimate restoration (4:17–18) ..."

Judith R. Baskin, ed., The Cambridge Dictionary of Judaism and Jewish Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), 330.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Micah7 chapters

Compare Joel 3:10 and Micah 4:3

Summary

Passages

Joel 3:10

Micah 4:3

References

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