Zechariah 1:11-12

1:11 The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord, ¹  who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet.” 1:12 The angel of the Lord then asked, “Lord who rules over all, ²  how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem ³  and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?” ⁴ 

Zechariah 2:4

2:4 and said to him, “Hurry, speak to this young man ⁵  as follows: ‘Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls ⁶  because of the multitude of people and animals there.

Zechariah 3:4

3:4 The angel ⁷  spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you ⁸  in fine clothing.”

Zechariah 3:8

3:8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you ⁹  are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch. ¹⁰ 

Zechariah 7:12

7:12 Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond, ¹¹  so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the Lord who rules over all had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord who rules over all had poured out great wrath.

Zechariah 9:7

9:7 I will take away their abominable religious practices; ¹²  then those who survive will become a community of believers in our God, ¹³  like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will be like the Jebusites.

Zechariah 14:8

14:8 Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, ¹⁴  half of them to the eastern sea ¹⁵  and half of them to the western sea; ¹⁶  it will happen both in summer and in winter.

Zechariah 14:18

14:18 If the Egyptians will not do so, they will get no rain – instead there will be the kind of plague which the Lord inflicts on any nations that do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

¹ sn The angel of the Lord is a special being who throughout the OT represents God himself and on occasion almost approaches divine hypostatization or incarnation (cf. Gen 18:2, 13, 17, 22; Exod 23:20-21; Josh 5:13-15; Judg 6:11-24; 13:2-20).

² sn Note that here the angel of the Lord is clearly distinct from the Lord who rules over all himself.

³ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

⁴ sn The seventy years refers to the predicted period of Babylonian exile, a period with flexible beginning and ending points depending on the particular circumstances in view (cf. Jer 25:1; 28:1; 29:10; Dan 9:2). Here the end of the seventy years appears to be marked by the completion of the temple in 516 b.c., exactly seventy years after its destruction in 586.

³ sn That is, to Zechariah.

⁴ tn Heb “Jerusalem will dwell as open regions (פְּרָזוֹת, pÿrazot)”; cf. NAB “in open country”; CEV “won’t have any boundaries.” The population will be so large as to spill beyond the ancient and normal enclosures. The people need not fear, however, for the Lord will be an invisible but strong wall (v. 5).

⁴ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the angel, cf. v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁵ tn The occurrence of the infinitive absolute here for an expected imperfect 1st person common singular (or even imperative 2nd person masculine plural or preterite 3rd person masculine plural) is well-attested elsewhere. Most English translations render this as 1st person singular (“and I will clothe”), but cf. NAB “Take off…and clothe him.”

⁵ tn Heb “these men.” The cleansing of Joshua and his elevation to enhanced leadership as a priest signify the coming of the messianic age.

⁶ sn The collocation of servant and branch gives double significance to the messianic meaning of the passage (cf. Isa 41:8, 9; 42:1, 19; 43:10; 44:1, 2, 21; Ps 132:17; Jer 23:5; 33:15).

⁶ tn The Hebrew term שָׁמִיר (shamir) means literally “hardness” and since it is said in Ezek 3:9 to be harder than flint, many scholars suggest that it refers to diamond. It is unlikely that diamond was known to ancient Israel, however, so probably a hard stone like emery or corundum is in view. The translation nevertheless uses “diamond” because in modern times it has become proverbial for its hardness. A number of English versions use “flint” here (e.g., NASB, NIV).

⁷ tn Heb “and I will take away their blood from their mouth and their abominations from between their teeth.” These expressions refer to some type of abominable religious practices, perhaps eating meat with the blood still in it (less likely NCV “drinking blood”) or eating unclean or forbidden foods.

⁸ tn Heb “and they will be a remnant for our God”; cf. NIV “will belong to our God”; NLT “will worship our God.”

⁸ sn Living waters will flow out from Jerusalem. Ezekiel sees this same phenomenon in conjunction with the inauguration of the messianic age (Ezek 47; cf. Rev 22:1-5; also John 7:38).

⁹ sn The eastern sea is a reference to the Dead Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

¹⁰ sn The western sea is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).