16
I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the certainty of all this. And he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things:
Daniel 7:16
Sacred Scripture # 86
86. We can see more clearly from passages where it says nations and peoples that there are in the Word repetitions of what seems to be the same thing for the sake of the marriage of goodness and truth. See, for example, the following passages:
Woe to a sinful nation, to a people weighed down with iniquity. (Isaiah 1:4)
The peoples walking in darkness have seen a great light; you have multiplied the nation. (Isaiah 9:2-3)
Assyria is the rod of my anger. I will send him against a hypocritical nation; I will appoint him against the people of my rage. (Isaiah 10:5-6)
It will happen on that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, the one who stands as a sign for the peoples. (Isaiah 11:10)
Jehovah is striking the peoples with a plague that cannot be healed and ruling the nations in anger. (Isaiah 14:6)
On that day a gift will be brought to Jehovah Sabaoth - a people scattered and shaven and a nation measured and trampled. (Isaiah 18:7)
A strong people will honor you; a city of powerful nations will fear you. (Isaiah 25:3)
Jehovah will swallow up the covering that is over all peoples and the veil that is over all nations. (Isaiah 25:7)
Come near, O nations, and listen, O peoples. (Isaiah 34:1)
I have called you to be a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. (Isaiah 42:6)
Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples convene. (Isaiah 43:9)
Behold, I will lift up my hand toward the nations, and my sign toward the peoples. (Isaiah 49:22)
I have made him a witness to the peoples, a prince and a lawgiver to the nations. (Isaiah 55:4-5)
Behold, a people is coming from the land of the north and a great nation from the farthest parts of the earth. (Jeremiah 6:22)
I will no longer let you hear the slander of the nations, and you will not bear the reproach of the peoples anymore. (Ezekiel 36:15)
All peoples and nations will worship him. (Daniel 7:14)
Do not allow the nations to turn [your heritage] into a joke or to say among the peoples, “Where is their God?” (Joel 2:17)
The remnant of my people will plunder them and the remainder of my nation will possess them. (Zephaniah 2:9)
Many peoples and vast nations will come to seek Jehovah Sabaoth in Jerusalem. (Zechariah 8:22)
My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the nations. (Luke 2:30-32)
You have redeemed us by your blood out of every people and nation. (Revelation 5:9)
You must prophesy again about peoples and nations. (Revelation 10:11)
You will make me the head of the nations; people I have not known will serve me. (Psalms 18:43)
Jehovah makes the counsel of the nations ineffective; he overturns the thoughts of the peoples. (Psalms 33:10)
You are making us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. (Psalms 44:14)
Jehovah will subdue peoples under us and nations under our feet. Jehovah has ruled over the nations; those who are willing among the peoples have gathered. (Psalms 47:3, 8-9)
The peoples will praise you, the nations will be glad and rejoice, because you are going to judge the peoples with righteousness and lead the nations in the land. (Psalms 67:3-4)
Remember me, Jehovah, in the good pleasure of your people, so that I may be glad in the joy of your nations. (Psalms 106:4-5)
There are other passages as well.
The reason it says both nations and peoples is that “nations” means people who are focused on what is good (and in an opposite sense, on what is evil) and “peoples” means those who are focused on what is true (and in an opposite sense, on what is false). That is why those who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are called peoples, while those in the Lord’s heavenly kingdom are called nations. The underlying reason is that everyone in the spiritual kingdom is focused on what is true and therefore on wisdom, while everyone in the heavenly kingdom is focused on what is good and therefore on love.
Zechariah 8
1
The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me.
2
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath."
3
Thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called 'The City of Truth;' and the mountain of Yahweh of Armies, 'The Holy mountain.'"
4
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
5
The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets."
6
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?" says Yahweh of Armies.
7
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
8
and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness."
9
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of Yahweh of Armies was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.
10
For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.
11
But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days," says Yahweh of Armies.
12
"For the seed of peace and the vine will yield its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
13
It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Don't be afraid. Let your hands be strong."
14
For thus says Yahweh of Armies: "As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath," says Yahweh of Armies, "and I didn't repent;
15
so again have I thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don't be afraid.
16
These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,
17
and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate," says Yahweh.
18
The word of Yahweh of Armies came to me.
19
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "The fasts of the fourth fifth, seventh, and tenth months shall be for the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace."
20
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "Many peoples, and the inhabitants of Many cities will yet come;
21
and the inhabitants of one shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Yahweh, and to seek Yahweh of Armies. I will go also.'
22
Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek Yahweh of Armies in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of Yahweh."
23
Thus says Yahweh of Armies: "In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they will take hold of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, 'We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.'"
