The opening expression In days to come occurs frequently in the Old Testament. Generally, as here, it refers to the fairly distant future, especially the time when the Messiah will come (see Hos 3.5; Dan 10.14). One may translate it as “The time will come when…” or simply “In the future.” The prophets often connected this future time with changes in the shape of the land, especially the land in the Jerusalem area (see Isa 40.4; Zech 14.5-10). It is not clear whether the prophets themselves regarded these statements as literal or figurative, but they are certainly not standard literary figures of speech. Therefore they should be translated literally in order to retain the possibility of a literal interpretation.

The fact that the mountain where the Temple stands will be the highest one of all undoubtedly has a spiritual significance and reflects the preeminence of the Lord, in whose honor the Temple was built. The expression towering above all the hills is rather idiomatic in English and may need to be put more plainly in other languages as “it will be much higher than the other hills.” The meaning here may perhaps be that this mountain will be the highest in the world, not merely the highest of all the mountains in the area. Just how this could happen is not explained here in detail, but the main picture is that this mountain is raised up (see Revised Standard Version) higher than it now is. In similar passages there is also talk of other mountains being leveled (as in Isa 40.4).

Because of the prominence of the Temple and of the Lord whom it represented, Many nations will come streaming to it. Many nations means of course “the people of many nations” and may need to be expressed in this fuller form. In the word streaming, Good News Translation is able to retain a figure of speech very similar to that in the Hebrew, which is literally “they will flow toward it.” If this metaphor is unnatural to a translator, he could either change it to a simile and say “Many nations will come toward it just as a river flows along,” or else change to some other metaphor that is more appropriate to his language. Among English translators, Knox has changed the metaphor by saying “the nations will flock there together.” If no suitable alternative figure of speech can be found, the plain meaning is simply “Many nations will keep coming toward it.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on Micah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .