Zechariah 1:4

1:4 “Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord.

Zechariah 1:7

The Introduction to the Visions

1:7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in Darius’ second year,¹ the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, as follows:

Zechariah 2:11

2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation,² and they will also be my³ people. Indeed, I will settle in the midst of you all.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you.

Zechariah 7:12

7:12 Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond,⁴ 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 8:10

8:10 Before that time there was no compensation for man or animal, nor was there any relief from adversity for those who came and went, because I had pitted everybody – each one – against everyone else.

Zechariah 8:19

8:19 “The Lord who rules over all says, ‘The fast of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth⁵ months will become joyful and happy, pleasant feasts for the house of Judah, so love truth and peace.’

Zechariah 10:6

10:6 “I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom⁶ of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph⁷ and will bring them back⁸ because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

Zechariah 12:3

12:3 Moreover, on that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy burden⁹ for all the nations, and all who try to carry it will be seriously injured;¹⁰ yet all the peoples of the earth will be assembled against it.

Zechariah 12:8

12:8 On that day the Lord himself will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like mighty David, and the dynasty of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them.¹¹

Zechariah 13:2-3

13:2 And also on that day,” says the Lord who rules over all, “I will remove¹² the names of the idols from the land and they will never again be remembered. Moreover, I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. 13:3 Then, if anyone prophesies in spite of this, his father and mother to whom he was born will say to him, ‘You cannot live, for you lie in the name of the Lord.’ Then his father and mother to whom he was born will run him through with a sword when he prophesies.¹³

Zechariah 14:12

14:12 But this will be the nature of the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will decay while they stand on their feet, their eyes will rot away in their sockets, and their tongues will dissolve in their mouths.

Zechariah 14:16

14:16 Then all who survive from all the nations that came to attack Jerusalem will go up annually to worship the King, the Lord who rules over all, and to observe the Feast of Tabernacles.¹⁴

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.

¹sn The twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month…in Darius’ second year was February 15, 519 b.c.

¹tn Heb “on that day.” The descriptive phrase “of salvation” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

²tc The LXX and Syriac have the 3rd person masculine singular suffix in both places (“his people” and “he will settle”; cf. NAB, TEV) in order to avoid the Lord’s speaking of himself in the third person. Such resort is unnecessary, however, in light of the common shifting of person in Hebrew narrative (cf. 3:2).

¹tn 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).

¹sn The fasts of the fifth and seventh months, mentioned previously (7:5), are listed here along with the observances of the fourth and tenth months. The latter commemorated the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians on January 15, 588 b.c. (2 Kgs 25:1), and the former the breach of the city walls on or about July 18, 586 b.c. (Jer 39:2-5).

¹tn Heb “the house.”

²tn Or “the kingdom of Israel”; Heb “the house of Joseph.”

³tc The anomalous MT reading וְחוֹשְׁבוֹתִים (vÿkhoshÿvotim) should probably be וַהֲשִׁי בוֹתִם (vahashi votim), the Hiphil perfect consecutive of שׁוּב (shuv), “return” (cf. Jer 12:15).

¹tn Heb “heavy stone” (so NRSV, TEV, NLT); KJV “burdensome stone”; NIV “an immovable rock.”

²sn In Israel’s and Judah’s past they had been uprooted by various conquerors such as the Assyrians and the Babylonians. In the eschaton, however, they will be so “heavy” with God’s glory and so rooted in his promises that no nation will be able to move them.

¹sn The statement the dynasty of David will be like God is hyperbole to show the remarkable enhancements that will accompany the inauguration of the millennial age.

¹tn Heb “cut off” (so NRSV); NAB “destroy”; NIV “banish.”

¹sn Death (in this case being run…through with a sword) was the penalty required in the OT for prophesying falsely (Deut 13:6-11; 18:20-22).

¹sn Having imposed his sovereignty over the earth following the Battle of Armageddon, the Lord will receive homage and tribute from all who survive from all the nations. The Feast of Tabernacles was especially associated with covenant institution and renewal so it will be appropriate for all people to acknowledge that they are vassals to the Lord at that time (cf. Deut 31:9-13; Neh 8:12-18; 9:1-38).