1Seven women shall take hold of one man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread, and wear our own clothing. Just let us be called by your name. Take away our reproach.”
2In that day, Yahweh’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel. 3It 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, 4when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from within it, by the spirit of justice and by the spirit of burning. 5Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, for over all the glory will be a canopy. 6There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.
The Greek word for "repent" is metanoia (μετανοια), a combination of two words. "Meta" refers to a change, or after, and "noia" of the mind. It speaks not to "remorse," sometimes thought to be its sense. Rather, the call of John is to change their minds, to think differently. This was to be done in view of the coming kingdom of the Messiah. There is a difference among biblical interpreters as to whether the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are synonyms. Whichever view one takes, it is clear that this begins with the coming of Jesus. It is clear that this kingdom was first offered to the Jewish people and that there would be a judgment of those who rejected Him (3:12), a view repeated by the Old Testament several times (Isa 4:4, 5; 5:15, 16; 42:1; Jer 33:14-16; Ezek 20:33-38; Dan 7:26, 27; Joel 1:14, 15; 3:12-17; Zeph 1:2-18; 3:8-13; Zech 13:2, 9; Mal 3:1-5; 4:1-6).