9. What good news does Jehovah declare?

⁹ Does Jerusalem’s destruction in 607 B.C.E. mean that Jehovah will no longer have witnesses on earth? No. Outstanding integrity-keepers, such as Daniel and his three companions, will continue to serve Jehovah even as exiles in Babylon. (Daniel 1:6, 7) Yes, the chain of faithful witnesses of Jehovah will remain intact, and at the end of 70 years, faithful men and women will leave Babylon and return to Judah to restore pure worship there. That is what Jehovah alludes to next: “I will set among them a sign, and I will send some of those who are escaped to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, those drawing the bow, Tubal and Javan, the faraway islands, who have not heard a report about me or seen my glory; and they will for certain tell about my glory among the nations.”​—Isaiah 66:19.

10. (a) In what sense will faithful Jews liberated from Babylon serve as a sign? (b) Who today serve as a sign?

¹⁰ The host of faithful men and women who return to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E. will serve as an astonishing sign, evidence that Jehovah has delivered his people. Who would have dreamed that the captive Jews would one day be free to pursue pure worship at Jehovah’s temple?

11. (a) After the restoration, how will it be that those of the nations come to learn about Jehovah? (b) How was Zechariah 8:23 initially fulfilled?

¹¹ How, though, after the restoration in 537 B.C.E., will men of the nations who have not heard a report about Jehovah come to know him? Well, not all faithful Jews will return to Jerusalem at the end of the Babylonian captivity. Some, like Daniel, will remain in Babylon. Others will scatter to the four corners of the earth. By the fifth century B.C.E., there were Jews living throughout the Persian Empire. (Esther 1:1; 3:8) No doubt some of them told their pagan neighbors about Jehovah, for many from those nations became Jewish proselytes. Such was evidently the case with the Ethiopian eunuch, to whom the Christian disciple Philip preached in the first century. (Acts 8:26-40) All of this took place as an initial fulfillment of the words of the prophet Zechariah: “It will be in those days that ten men out of all the languages of the nations will take hold, yes, they will actually take hold of the skirt of a man who is a Jew, saying: ‘We will go with you people, for we have heard that God is with you people.’” (Zechariah 8:23) Indeed, Jehovah sent out light to the nations!​—Psalm 43:3.

Bringing “a Gift to Jehovah”

12, 13. In what way will “brothers” be brought to Jerusalem beginning in 537 B.C.E.?

¹² After Jerusalem is rebuilt, Jews who are scattered far beyond their homeland will look to the city along with its restored priesthood as the center of pure worship. Many of them will travel long distances to attend the annual festivals there. Under inspiration, Isaiah writes: “‘They will actually bring all your brothers out of all the nations as a gift to Jehovah, on horses and in chariots and in covered wagons and on mules and on swift she-camels, up to my holy mountain, Jerusalem,’ Jehovah has said, ‘just as when the sons of Israel bring the gift in a clean vessel into the house of Jehovah. And from them also I shall take some for the priests, for the Levites.’”​—Isaiah 66:20, 21.

¹³ Some of those “brothers out of all the nations” were present on the day of Pentecost when holy spirit was poured out on Jesus’ disciples. The account reads: “There were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, reverent men, from every nation of those under heaven.” (Acts 2:5) They came to Jerusalem to worship according to Jewish custom, but when they heard the good news about Jesus Christ, many exercised faith in him and were baptized.