And it will come about that the one who is left in Zion and remains behind in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem.
Parallel translations
- WEB It will happen, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even everyone who is written among the living in Jerusalem;
- KJV And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem:
- BSB Whoever remains in Zion and whoever is left in Jerusalem will be called holy—all in Jerusalem who are recorded among the living—
- NKJV And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy—everyone who is recorded among the living in Jerusalem.
- NLT All who remain in Zion will be a holy people— those who survive the destruction of Jerusalem and are recorded among the living.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Those who survive in Zion will be called holy, namely everyone recorded among the living in Jerusalem. It promises that the remnant will be a purified, set-apart people belonging to God.
Overview
Being 'written among the living' evokes God's record of His people, a theme that runs through Scripture to the Lamb's book of life (Revelation 21:27). The remnant is not merely spared but made holy, marking a transformation of character, not just circumstance. This anticipates the New Testament reality of a people consecrated to God through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 22
- Luke 10:20Nevertheless, don’t rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
- Isa 52:1Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and the unclean will no more come into you.
- Ps 69:28Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous.
- Rev 21:27There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
- Isa 60:21Then your people will all be righteous. They will inherit the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
- Exod 32:32–33Yet now, if you will, forgive their sin — and if not, please blot me out of your book which you have written.”
- Rev 3:5He who overcomes will be arrayed in white garments, and I will in no way blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.
- Phil 4:3Yes, I beg you also, true partner, help these women, for they labored with me in the Good News, with Clement also, and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.
- Ezek 36:24–28For I will take you from among the nations, and gather you out of all the countries, and will bring you into your own land.
- Rom 11:5Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
- Heb 12:14Follow after peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no man will see the Lord,
- Col 3:12Put on therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, humility, and perseverance;
- Rev 17:8The beast that you saw was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go into destruction. Those who dwell on the earth and whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel when they see that the beast was, and is not, and shall be present.
- Rev 20:15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
- Ezek 43:12This is the law of the house: on the top of the mountain the whole limit around it shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
- Rev 13:8All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
- Isa 1:27Zion shall be redeemed with justice, and her converts with righteousness.
- 1 Pet 2:9But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
- Eph 1:4even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and without defect before him in love;
- Zech 14:20–21In that day there will be on the bells of the horses, “HOLY TO YAHWEH”; and the pots in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.
- Ezek 13:9“My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and who divine lies. They will not be in the council of my people, neither will they be written in the writing of the house of Israel, neither will they enter into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord Yahweh”
- Acts 13:48As the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of God. As many as were appointed to eternal life believed.
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 4:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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