Sefer Yoel, chapter 3: "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions." "And it shall come to pass afterward" - afterward, when? Regarding this matter there is a dispute whether these verses speak of a future prophecy, or whether they speak of the period in which they were written, namely in the days of Yoel. Ibn Ezra cites: Rabbi Yehoshua said that this entire prophecy refers to the future. Everything written here is a future prophecy. But immediately he notes that Rabbi Moshe HaKohen questioned this: If so, why did it say, "And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out My spirit"? You should have phrased it, "And it shall come to pass in the end of days," as is customary when speaking of future prophecies. Here it does not say "in the end of days"; it says "afterward." Therefore, according to Rabbi Moshe HaKohen, this prophet lived in the days of Yehoshaphat, which makes it very likely why he mentions Emek Yehoshaphat (the Valley of Yehoshaphat), and at that time the prophets and the sons of the prophets were numerous. For consider that they went out to speak to Elisha when your master was being taken from above your head - there it says that many went out to speak with him. If you want to know how many, see that Ovadiah alone hid one hundred men in a cave, while Izevel (Jezebel) killed all the rest. This means that there were many prophets. So regarding that period, it is very likely that he says, "I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" - this was an era when prophecy multiplied greatly, and therefore he is speaking about that time.
Nevertheless, the plain understanding, which we will follow and which is also the approach of the Radak and the Malbim, is as Ibn Ezra cited in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua: that this entire prophecy is for the future. The Radak says that "afterward" is equivalent to "And it shall come to pass in the end of days." And it said "afterward" because earlier it mentioned, "And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel" - He said that now you will know, but this is not complete knowledge, for you will yet sin. That is to say, now after I have brought you rain and livelihood and everything, and the matter of the locusts has been wiped away, He says: now you will know that I am Hashem. But this is a knowledge followed by forgetting. Even so, "And it shall come to pass afterward" - in the future to come, there will be absolute knowledge. In the future to come there will be knowledge and connection, at which time "I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," etc., and then your knowledge will be complete.
"I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh" - the Radak says that this refers to all of Israel. Just as they said elsewhere regarding "all flesh," where it does not refer to all animals, but to man alone: "And let all flesh bless His holy name forever and ever," and "all flesh shall come to bow down," which refers to the Jewish people. The Jewish people are the ones worthy of having the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh) poured out upon them. Ibn Ezra adds that it specifically means in the Land of Israel, which is the place designated for prophecy. And as for the word "all" written here - what does "all" mean? Would you say "all" includes gentiles? The Radak says no: "all" includes both the great and the small, as it is written, "and they shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them." "All" does not include the gentiles; "all" includes the small and the great.
The Radak says: since their reality will be that their intellect will be purified, and in some of them the rational faculty (koach ha-dibri) will overpower - the rational faculty meaning the spiritual power which is the power of prophecy - until they prophesy. For it did not say that all of them would prophesy. Notice: "I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh," but regarding prophecy: "and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." It does not say "all your sons and all your daughters." Why? The Radak explains that these words align with what the Rambam wrote. The Rambam says that in truth, prophecy requires an innate preparation in a person from birth. The Rambam wrote that prophecy will not come to a person, even with study and training, unless he had an innate predisposition at the time of his creation. What does this mean? Even if you do everything necessary for prophecy, and even if you are in a situation where the generation itself is worthy of prophecy, the Rambam says that if you were not born with the nature of a prophet, you will not become a prophet. That is why it is written there: "Before you came forth from the womb I sanctified you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations." The Rambam says one must have the natural preparation - meaning that from Heaven, his physical constitution was prepared for prophecy. Therefore, says the Radak, you can understand why it says here, "and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy," and does not say "all." For in truth, not everyone possesses the natural preparation for prophecy, but only those whose nature the Holy One, blessed be He, predisposed at the time of creation, preparing them for prophecy. Now, as for what you see - "your sons and your daughters shall prophesy" - do not be surprised by this, says the Radak, for you see that sons and daughters prophesied even in their youth. As we saw with Shmuel the prophet: while still a lad and a boy, we saw him receiving prophecy by Eli in the Mishkan. And they see visions, they see dreams, and such was the prophecy of most prophets: "your sons and your daughters," and "your old men shall dream dreams - in a dream I will speak to him."
The Malbim explains that this refers back to what we saw earlier: that a time will come when they will know Hashem with clear knowledge, when Hashem will be in their midst, resting with a continuous Shechinah, and this will be in the end of days. This is essentially the conclusion of the previous chapter. For this is another difficulty people encounter here: how did he jump topics? Previously you spoke of the locusts, and about how the Holy One, blessed be He, will remove the locusts from them and grant them abundance, and suddenly you say: you know, in the end of days there will be great abundance, and there will be prophecy, and... this seems unrelated! How do you connect it? For this reason, it was more reasonable to Rabbi Moshe HaKohen, cited by Ibn Ezra, to connect the matters and say that here he is actually speaking about that period - everything happened in the same era. But for us who explain that this refers to the end of days, as most commentators explain, how does it connect to Sefer Yoel and his entire earlier prophecy about the locusts? Rather, according to the Malbim, the Malbim already forged a connection at the end of the previous chapter. The Malbim told us: although you now reach a state where "you shall praise the name of Hashem your God, Who has dealt wondrously with you; and My people shall never be ashamed," know that at this time you do not grasp Hashem in His essence; rather, as we said, you only receive Nogah (radiance), only the Name of Hashem, but not Hashem in His essence. But another time will come: "And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am Hashem your God, and there is none else; and My people shall never be ashamed." That is when the Shechinah will be permanently fixed among you and the Holy One, blessed be He, will be revealed to us, and that will be in the future to come. Thus concluded the previous chapter. And since that is so, he now continues and says: since I have already told you what will be in the future to come - today you have only a little, but in the future to come there will be perfection - he now elaborates on what will be in the future to come. The Malbim says: now he explains and tells us what level will exist in the end of days.
The Malbim cites the words of the Abarbanel. The Abarbanel proves from this that the first prophecy said about the locusts was also not a local prophecy about what happened in their time; rather, the Abarbanel seeks to find in it an allusion to the Four Kingdoms. And since we spoke of four species of locusts, notice what the Abarbanel is doing: because the Abarbanel also has a difficulty, namely, how does he suddenly shift to speaking about the end of days? For this reason, the other commentators explained that what he speaks of here is not the end of days - what did they do? They connected chapter 3 to the earlier chapters. The Abarbanel also offers a resolution, but in reverse: he connects the earlier chapters to chapter 3. And what is he saying? All the prophecies here are about the end of days. But what about the locusts he describes to his contemporaries? That is an allegory. Although the locusts were addressed to his contemporaries, they were an allegory for the end of days. Thus the entire book from its very beginning already speaks about the end of days. And how does he explain it? There will be Four Kingdoms, and these Four Kingdoms are symbolized by the gazam (cutting locust), the yelek (swarming locust), the arbeh (locust), and the chasil (destroying locust), which devour us voraciously. Then the Holy One, blessed be He, will remove them, as it were, and compensate us for what those Four Kingdoms devoured and consumed of us. The Four Kingdoms are the well-known ones: Babylon, Persia and Media, Greece, and Rome. These are the Four Kingdoms we discussed in Sefer Daniel when discussing the four beasts, and in Sefer Yechezkel when discussing the four faces in the Chariot, and so forth. These are the same beasts and kingdoms mentioned throughout. This is also the characteristic of those four species of locusts: they will devour us voraciously throughout the exile, and the Holy One, blessed be He, will exact retribution from them and afterward restore good to us corresponding to all the years we suffered. This is the explanation according to the Abarbanel.
The Malbim says that according to this explanation of the Abarbanel, one can also understand why earlier he compared the locusts to a numerous people and a mighty nation, horses and horsemen, chariots and armed armies, warriors and conquerors. For in truth he was not speaking of locusts; the locusts here are an allegory. An allegory for what? For the enemy forces that would come and conquer us. The Malbim says, however, that the plain meaning of the entire prophecy indicates otherwise. Even though the Malbim often follows the path of the Abarbanel, here the Malbim departs from him and says that what the Abarbanel explains is contrary to the plain sense. That is, unless we say that while he spoke of the locusts that literally occurred in those days, his spirit also encompassed twofold the prophecy of the Four Kingdoms, which corresponds to it in the number four. That is to say, unless we resolve it by saying that the prophet truly prophesied in the literal sense about the locusts, yet in the profound heights of his prophecy, his spirit also ranged into the perception that these locusts correspond to the Four Kingdoms. In summary, the Malbim says the plain understanding is that the locusts are literal - there were locusts, the locusts devoured, there were four species of locusts, etc., all literal. What then? By way of allusion (remez), it also speaks of the Four Kingdoms. But to go to the extreme of the Abarbanel and say that all the verses we read until now were not about locusts at all, but about the Four Kingdoms with the prophet speaking purely metaphorically as a parable - this the Malbim finds difficult to accept.
In any event, let us return to the Malbim's explanation. According to our approach, the Malbim says, there is no difficulty at all. What was the difficulty? How does he suddenly transition from the matter of the locusts to the future to come? Because he told them: after the locusts you will merit abundance, but that abundance will not be complete; in the future to come it will be complete. That is the connection between the subjects, and with this the Abarbanel's difficulty is resolved. And concerning this it is said, "I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh." What does "I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh" mean? The spirit of Hashem includes all spiritual perfections and soul virtues. We have an explicit verse for this, as it is written: "And the spirit of Hashem shall rest upon him" - namely, "the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of Hashem." When I say "I will pour out My spirit," this includes all kinds of perfections and soul virtues that come from Hashem. The Malbim says: any flow of spirituality that rests upon a person from Hashem - whether in strength, whether in courage, whether upon the imaginative faculty in counsel and true intuition, whether upon the intellectual faculty in depth, contemplation, and understanding, or whether in the prophetic flow which is in the spirit of knowledge and fear of Hashem, which is already beyond the intellect - all of it is termed the spirit of Hashem. Hashem says: at that time I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh. Why "pour out"? Because pouring implies great abundance. If one takes and drips, that is not pouring. Pouring means pouring out with full force; there will be immense abundance, like someone pouring water that spreads everywhere and covers everything equally. Even so, says the Malbim, it will not be entirely equal, but rather according to the preparation of the recipients. Therefore he says, "and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy." Why? Because there are three levels in prophecy. The Malbim explains: complete prophecy is the highest level, the attainment of prophecy. There is an intermediate level, which is vision (chazon). This is below prophecy: one sees visions while awake, for as the spirit of God rests upon him, he sees visions in his imagination. The third level is a true dream, which is below the flow of vision, and certainly below the flow of prophecy, since it is only one-sixtieth of prophecy and has straw mixed with grain: "What has the straw to do with the wheat? says Hashem." Chazal interpret this regarding dreams, that a dream also contains meaningless matters. As it is written: "The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream... What has the straw to do with the wheat?" That is, even in truthful dreams, straw and grain are mixed together.
And now he comes and says: the young sons and daughters - notice - were born in the generation of Mashiach. They were born in a generation prepared for the spirit of God. They will have complete prophecies. Why? Because from the outset they were born in a generation ready for it. The elders were born in a generation distant from the generation of Mashiach; upon them will flow only dreams, dreams being the final, lowest level. Why? Because an elder is truly not a child of this generation. One born in this generation is born into a generation of abundance. But one born in the previous generation belongs to an era that did not possess that same spiritual abundance; therefore, the maximum the elders will reach is "your old men shall dream dreams," which is the lowest level, the third level of perception through dreams. The young men, on the other hand, were also born before the arrival of Mashiach, but notice: they are not as old-fashioned as the elders. They are already closer to the era of Mashiach's coming, more adjacent to the arrival of Mashiach. Therefore, they will merit the intermediate level: they will merit visions. Visions are an intermediate flow between prophecy and dreams.
It is related in the name of the Chazon Ish: the Chazon Ish once said that in this generation - you know that in every generation we speak of the "elders of the generation" - he said that in this generation there are no longer elders. (Not meaning ninety-plus, but in the sense of the elders of the generation.) He said there are no longer elders in this generation. They asked him: Why, honored Rabbi? There are elders in this generation! He told them: No, all the elders of this generation are from the previous generation. Do you understand? It is an inheritance from the previous generation. What he meant was: has this generation produced elders? We do not have that. If there are any, they were shaped in the previous generation. Where is Rav Ovadia, where is Rav Elyashiv, where is that caliber of elders of the generation who were elevated above the people? Such figures on that level are no longer found in recent generations. This is a generation of abundance, a generation of physical comfort, a generation connected to this world. We no longer have a generation where ten children grew up in one room, living on bread with salt in extreme frugality and studying Torah amid hardship; we do not have such a generation. Consequently, we also do not have such giants. For the reality is that the more one learns through hardship and with greater self-sacrifice, the more uniquely one grows. But we are a generation of abundance, and that leaves its imprint even on the Torah leaders produced by that generation.
The Malbim elaborates further in his analysis of the words (Be'ur HaMilot). He says: the verse mentions prophecy, vision, and dreams. The Malbim explains that vision is a lower level than prophecy, because the imaginative faculty is stronger in it, and he envisions sights in his imagination, so that the light is cloaked in many layers. The higher the prophet's level, the more clearly and lucidly he perceives things, and consequently there is less clothing in physical matters, fewer parables; rather, he sees things as they truly are. To the point where Moshe Rabbeinu had no parables at all: with Moshe Rabbeinu it was "mouth to mouth I will speak with him" - the message was transmitted directly. By contrast, the other prophets still perceived through parables: "What do you see? I see a seething pot" - meaning he sees a parable that expresses a concept. Vision also includes the human imagination. Thus, when a person receives a message wrapped in much imagination, with many additions that are the scenes he envisions in his mind, the message is received with an outer shell and not in pure clarity. And a dream is lower still. For a dream is only one-sixtieth of prophecy, and it also contains meaningless matters, which is not the case with a vision. Even a truthful dream: as Yaakov said to Yosef, how can you say that we will come to bow down to you, when Rachel is dead? "What is this dream that you have dreamed?" (We have noted that the letters of "asher chalamta" [that you have dreamed] can be rearranged to spell "Rachel meitah" [Rachel is dead].) So he asked him: how can this be? What is the explanation? Chazal say: there is no dream without meaningless matters; this was the meaningless part of the dream. (Even so, an explanation can be found for that as well: Bilhah, who raised him like a mother.) In any case, we understand that a dream already contains an element of corruption, a defect, which does not exist in a vision - and certainly not in prophecy, which is on a much higher plane. (This is discussed in greater detail elsewhere in the teachings on dreams.) Now, what the Malbim questions is: it is written concerning Daniel that Daniel understood "all vision and dreams." When one wants to say that a person understands both this and that, which does one mention as more important? Would one mention it first, or last? Understand: if one wants to say, for example, that someone knows mathematics, one says: he knows addition, and he also knows fractions and algebra. That is proper, because the method is always to ascend and add. But one would never say: he knows fractions and algebra, and he also knows two plus two! Thank you very much: after telling me about fractions and algebra, you now tell me about two plus two? One never mentions the simple thing last. In Scripture we always find this progression: not only this, but even that; not only that, but even this. Throughout his commentary, this is the Malbim's principle: "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant, and they have also stolen, and they have also dissembled." It does not say they transgressed My covenant and also dissembled. For after mentioning the greater offense, why mention the smaller one? If one says: this person is a serious criminal, he is sitting in prison for murder, and he also parked in a no-parking zone! Really, after mentioning the first, why mention the second? The style is always to ascend. The Malbim therefore notes a difficulty: in Daniel it says he understood "all vision and dreams." This implies that dreams are on a higher level, for it says he understood vision and also understood dreams! The Malbim answers: no, on the contrary. A vision is easier to understand. But with dreams, since straw is mixed with grain and there is dross, greater wisdom is required to sift through the elements. Precisely because a vision is on a higher level, its message is clearer. By contrast, a dream is on a lower level, so much dross and extraneous elements are intermingled; tremendous wisdom is required to decipher the dream, to know what is dross, what is essential, and where the message lies. Specifically because it is on a lower level, greater understanding and discernment were required to interpret dreams. The Malbim further notes that there is a distinction between a dream of night vision - a dream accompanied by vision seen during sleep - and a vision seen while awake, when the physical faculties are suspended and "he beholds the vision of the Almighty." Thus, regarding vision, we find both a vision in a dream and a vision while awake.
Let us continue: "And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit." "And also upon the servants" - Ibn Ezra says these are servants who returned to the Torah of Hashem, and likewise the handmaids, those who return to the Torah of Hashem. The Radak says this refers to the servants concerning whom it is said: "And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks" - that the nations will come here, and they will insist and argue among themselves over who will merit to shepherd our flocks: "and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen," "and kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers." That is, we will merit that world leaders will come and perform menial tasks - they will argue over who gets to do it: "Move aside, do not interfere, I was here first!" They will come and graze your flocks; they will be the attendants to the Jewish people when they recognize the stature of the people of Israel. Concerning them the verse says: "And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out My spirit," that they too will possess a spirit of knowledge and discernment. The Malbim notes: if you recall, we saw above that the spirit of Hashem includes all soul virtues, as in "And the spirit of Hashem shall rest upon him" - meaning the spirit of wisdom and understanding, counsel and might, knowledge and fear of Hashem. The Malbim says: notice that regarding the servants and handmaids in those days, it says "I will pour out My spirit." It does not say that they will prophesy, nor that they will dream dreams, nor that they will see visions. Rather, "I will pour out My spirit." What does this mean? It means that a spirit of counsel, might, and fear of Hashem from among the soul virtues will rest upon them, but it does not mean they will attain the pinnacle - the attainment of prophecy and visions, which will be reserved for the Jewish people alone.
"And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." The Radak explains that at that time, in the future to come, there will be wonders in the heavens and on earth. According to the Radak, we are speaking of the period of the war of Gog. The blood on earth refers to the great slaughter that will take place. Fire and pillars of smoke in the heavens refer to lightning bolts that burn as they strike, and the fire will produce smoke. This will be a wonder signaling the plague upon the nations who come against Jerusalem in the war of Gog and Magog. And these lightning bolts that descend, says the Radak, will not be natural. Or, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood" - there are two possibilities here: either to explain that there will truly be a change in the laws of nature, as described - "wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke," and the next verse, "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Hashem comes." Ibn Ezra similarly understands that this will occur physically, that the physical reality of nature will change. Ibn Ezra says the darkening of the luminaries is a sign of immense wars; there will be a darkening of the luminaries at that time, an eclipse and gloom, which is a sign that the war of Gog and Magog is about to erupt. These signs in nature herald the impending events. The Rambam, by contrast, consistent with his approach, understands that the words written here are allegorical. As we noted, this is a metaphorical expression indicating that at that time there will be wonders in heaven and earth, blood, fire, and smoke, and the sun turning to darkness - it does not mean that the physical sun literally turns to darkness. Rather, just as when a person wants to express that a great and terrible calamity occurred, he says: the lights grew dark. This is a metaphorical expression; it does not mean there was literally no light. Rather, the distress was so profound. As it is written: "and darkness was upon the face of the deep" - this refers to the kingdom of Greece, which darkened the eyes of Israel. Did they literally blind us? Once again, it is a metaphor. Thus the Rambam understands here, as is his way throughout most of Scripture. If so, what is written here - that there will be wonders in heaven and on earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke, and the sun turned to darkness - is an allegory for the troubles and wars destined to take place.
Just as we saw earlier regarding the locusts: "Before them the earth quakes, the heavens tremble; the sun and the moon grow dark, and the stars withdraw their shining." Were there really no stars? Did the sun and moon grow dark? While there we also saw a literal understanding - for when the locust swarm covers the land like a carpet, the sun indeed grows dark, one cannot see the sun, and darkness falls; one cannot see the moon, as the locusts cover the entire sky - so there is also a way to understand it literally. However, according to the Rambam, who says this refers to the future, why does it say "before the coming of the day of Hashem"? It should have said "at the coming of the day of Hashem." Why say it will happen before the coming of the day of Hashem, when all this reality of blood and fire will occur at the day of Hashem? The Radak explains that it is very possible Scripture wished to tell us that this trouble will befall Israel, and their light will turn to darkness, before the day of the downfall of Gog arrives. That is, "before the coming of the day of Hashem" means that in the initial stage it will appear as terrible distress: darkness, the moon turning to blood, the sun turning to darkness. But afterward everything will turn to good. For so it is written regarding the war of Gog: many nations will ascend against Jerusalem, and half of the city will go forth into exile. That is the darkness described here. In the prophecy of Zechariah it says there will not be bright light, but gloom. And afterward, at the time of Gog's downfall, comes "the great and terrible day of Hashem." That is, the light will truly follow afterward; but in the first stage, before the day of Hashem arrives, when Gog comes, everything will initially appear as profound darkness.
The Malbim explains: "And I will show wonders" - after describing that the knowledge of Hashem will be revealed throughout the earth, that there will be prophecy and Ruach HaKodesh, he informs us that they will also recognize Hashem through the renewal of signs and wonders that surpass the boundaries of nature. These wonders in the heavens and on earth will manifest through two things: first, retribution upon the wicked - "blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke." The wonder on earth will be through blood, which is the sword in the army of Gog and Magog. The wonder in the heavens will be through fire, for the Holy One, blessed be He, will rain down upon him fire, brimstone, and hailstones, until smoke rises from the immense conflagration destined to occur. That is, the natural order of the celestial system will change to signify slaughter, burning, and destruction - all before the coming of the great day of Hashem, which is the great Day of Judgment. "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Hashem shall be delivered; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those that escape, as Hashem has said, and among the remnant whom Hashem shall call." "And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of Hashem shall be delivered." "As Hashem has said" - Rashi asks: where did Hashem say this? "And all the peoples of the earth shall see that the name of Hashem is called upon you." When the name of Hashem is called upon you, when His name is proclaimed over us, we will have deliverance. "And among the remnant" - the survivors He leaves; "whom Hashem calls (korei)" - Rashi explains this in the sense of keru'im, those who are invited or summoned, like those designated for an appointed day. The Radak says that in the war of Gog and Magog there will be great distress for the Jewish people, an appointed time, as it is written concerning that period: "Hide yourself for a little moment, until the indignation is past." At that time many of Israel will perish, and the holy and God-fearing will truly escape, as it is written in the prophecy of Yeshayahu: "And it shall come to pass, that he who is left in Zion, and he who remains in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one who is written among the living in Jerusalem." Those who remain will be those who cling to Hashem: "you who cling to Hashem your God are alive every one of you this day." Thus it is written: "whosoever shall call on the name of Hashem" - those who call in truth: "Hashem is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." They are the remnant whom Hashem calls, who call upon Him in truth; this is a time of clarification and refining. In fact, this time in which we live today is the time of clarification. This is the time when a person must decide where he stands: do you cling to the servants of Hashem, or are you with the servants of Ba'al? Where do you stand? This is the moment. Then, in Mount Zion there will be deliverance and holiness. The remnant will be holy - those who remain devoted to Hashem, those who serve Hashem during that time. The Malbim explains that there is a sign here: the first wonder we saw is that the sun will turn to darkness and the moon to blood, changing the cosmic order; and the second wonder will be through the rescue of the righteous. Whoever calls upon the name of Hashem will escape; evil will have no dominion over him. This will occur in two ways: first, in Mount Zion and Jerusalem there will be deliverance, where everyone will be saved - "he who is left in Zion, even every one who is written among the living in Jerusalem," as the Radak cited from Yeshayahu; and also from other places, where not everyone will be saved, there will still be survivors - these are "the remnant whom Hashem calls." The righteous who are in those places will be saved. Whoever calls upon Hashem and prays to Him will ultimately be saved from all those tribulations.