Ezekiel 38:8

38:8 After many days you will be summoned; in the latter years you will come to a land restored from the ravages of war, ¹  with many peoples gathered on the mountains of Israel that had long been in ruins. Its people ²  were brought out from the peoples, and all of them will be living securely.

Ezekiel 38:11

38:11 You will say, “I will invade ³  a land of unwalled towns; I will advance against ⁴  those living quietly in security – all of them living without walls and barred gates –

Jeremiah 23:6

23:6 Under his rule ⁵  Judah will enjoy safety ⁶ 

and Israel will live in security. ⁷ 

This is the name he will go by:

‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ ⁸ 

Zechariah 2:5

2:5 But I (the Lord says) will be a wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem ⁹  and the source of glory in her midst.’”

Zechariah 2:8

2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ¹⁰  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ¹¹  of his ¹²  eye.

¹ tn Heb “from the sword.”

² tn Heb “it.”

³ tn Heb “go up against.”

⁴ tn Heb “come (to).”

⁵ tn Heb “In his days [= during the time he rules].”

⁶ tn Parallelism and context (cf. v. 4) suggest this nuance for the word often translated “be saved.” For this nuance elsewhere see Ps 119:117; Prov 28:18 for the verb (יָשַׁע [yasha’] in the Niphal); and Ps 12:6; Job 5:4, 11 for the related noun (יֶשַׁע, yesha’).

⁷ sn It should be noted that this brief oracle of deliverance implies the reunification of Israel and Judah under the future Davidic ruler. Jeremiah has already spoken about this reunification earlier in 3:18 and will have more to say about it in 30:3; 31:27, 31. This same ideal was espoused in the prophecies of Hosea (1:10-11 [2:1-2 HT]), Isaiah (11:1-4, 10-12), and Ezekiel (37:15-28) all of which have messianic and eschatological significance.

⁸ tn Heb “his name will be called ‘The Lord our righteousness’.”

⁹ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Heb “After glory has he sent me” (similar KJV, NASB). What is clearly in view is the role of Zechariah who, by faithful proclamation of the message, will glorify the Lord.

¹¹ tn Heb “gate” (בָּבָה, bavah) of the eye, that is, pupil. The rendering of this term by KJV as “apple” has created a well-known idiom in the English language, “the apple of his eye” (so ASV, NIV). The pupil is one of the most vulnerable and valuable parts of the body, so for Judah to be considered the “pupil” of the Lord’s eye is to raise her value to an incalculable price (cf. NLT “my most precious possession”).

¹² tc A scribal emendation (tiqqun sopherim) has apparently altered an original “my eye” to “his eye” in order to allow the prophet to be the speaker throughout vv. 8-9. This alleviates the problem of the Lord saying, in effect, that he has sent himself on the mission to the nations.