Zechariah 12:10

12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship ¹  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ²  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ³ 

Acts 2:37

The Response to Peter’s Address

2:37 Now when they heard this, ⁴  they were acutely distressed ⁵  and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “What should we do, brothers?”

Acts 16:29-30

16:29 Calling for lights, the jailer ⁶  rushed in and fell down ⁷  trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas. 16:30 Then he brought them outside ⁸  and asked, “Sirs, what must ⁹  I do to be saved?”

¹ tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”

² tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many mss read אַלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ale ’et ’asher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ela ’et ’asher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear – they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable – and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT.

³ tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bÿkhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).

⁴ tn The word “this” is not in the Greek text. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

⁵ tn Grk “they were pierced to the heart” (an idiom for acute emotional distress).

⁶ tn Grk “he”; the referent (the jailer) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁷ tn Or “and prostrated himself.”

⁸ tn Grk “And bringing them outside, he asked.” The participle προαγαγών (proagagwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style. Because of the length of the Greek sentence, the conjunction καί (kai) has not been translated here. Instead a new English sentence is begun by supplying the conjunction “then” to indicate the logical sequence.

⁹ tn The Greek term (δεῖ, dei) is used by Luke to represent divine necessity.