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.
Isaiah第11章
1
A shoot will come out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots will bear fruit.
2
The Spirit of Yahweh will rest on him: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh.
3
His delight will be in the fear of Yahweh. He will not judge by the sight of his eyes, neither decide by the hearing of his ears;
4
but with righteousness he will judge the poor, and decide with equity for the humble of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.
5
Righteousness will be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his waist.
6
The wolf will live with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the young goat; The calf, the young lion, and the fattened calf together; and a little child will lead them.
7
The cow and the bear will graze. Their young ones will lie down together. The lion will eat straw like the ox.
8
The nursing child will play near a cobra's hole, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper's den.
9
They will not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of Yahweh, as the waters cover the sea.
10
It will happen in that day that the nations will seek the root of Jesse, who stands as a banner of the peoples; and his resting place will be glorious.
11
It will happen in that day that the Lord will set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.
12
He will set up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.
13
The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won't envy Judah, and Judah won't persecute Ephraim.
14
They will fly down on the shoulders of the Philistines on the west. Together they will plunder the children of the east. They will extend their power over Edom and Moab, and the children of Ammon will obey them.
15
Yahweh will utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea; and with his scorching wind he will wave his hand over the River, and will split it into seven streams, and cause men to march over in sandals.
16
There will be a highway for the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, like there was for Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.
