6:1 Once more I looked, and this time I saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains of bronze. 7 6:2 Harnessed to the first chariot were red horses, to the second black horses, 6:3 to the third white horses, and to the fourth spotted horses, all of them strong. 8 6:4 Then I asked the angelic messenger 9 who was speaking with me, “What are these, sir?” 6:5 The messenger replied, “These are the four spirits 10 of heaven that have been presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth. 6:6 The chariot with the black horses is going to the north country and the white ones are going after them, but the spotted ones are going to the south country. 6:7 All these strong ones 11 are scattering; they have sought permission to go and walk about over the earth.” The Lord had said, “Go! Walk about over the earth!” So they are doing so. 6:8 Then he cried out to me, “Look! The ones going to the northland have brought me 12 peace about the northland.” 13
1 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the cherubim) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “they”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Or “wind.”
5 tn Heb “living creature.”
6 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the wheels) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
7 tn Heb “two mountains, and the mountains [were] mountains of bronze.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 tc For the MT reading אֲמֻצִּים (’amutsim, “strong”) Aquila and Syriac presuppose אֲדֻמִּים (’adummim, “red”), thus giving the red horse an assignment and eliminating the problem of a fifth, “spotted” horse. The fourth would be a mottled red horse according to this view. There is, however, no manuscript support for this interpretation.
9 tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.
10 tn The Hebrew term translated “spirit” here may also be translated “wind” or “breath” depending on the context (cf. ASV, NRSV, CEV “the four winds of heaven”; NAB similar).
11 tn The present translation takes אֲמֻצִּים (’amutsim, “strong”) to be a descriptive of all the horses – white, black, red, and spotted (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT).
12 tn Heb “my spirit.” The subject appears to be the
13 sn The immediate referent of peace about the northland is to the peace brought by Persia’s conquest of Babylonia, a peace that allowed the restoration of the Jewish people (cf. 2 Chr 36:22-23; Isa 44:28; 45:1-2). However, there is also an eschatological dimension, referring to a time when there will be perfect and universal peace.