Zechariah 2:8-9

2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ¹  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ²  of his ³  eye. 2:9 “I am about to punish them ⁴  in such a way,” he says, “that they will be looted by their own slaves.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

Zechariah 2:11

2:11 “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on the day of salvation, ⁵  and they will also be my ⁶  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 6:15

6:15 Then those who are far away ⁷  will come and build the temple of the Lord so that you may know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me to you. This will all come to pass if you completely obey the voice of the Lord your God.”’”

Isaiah 48:16

48:16 Approach me! Listen to this!

From the very first I have not spoken in secret;

when it happens, ⁸  I am there.”

So now, the sovereign Lord has sent me, accompanied by his spirit. ⁹ 

John 3:17

3:17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, ¹⁰  but that the world should be saved through him.

John 5:36-37

5:36 “But I have a testimony greater than that from John. For the deeds ¹¹  that the Father has assigned me to complete – the deeds ¹²  I am now doing – testify about me that the Father has sent me. 5:37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified about me. You people ¹³  have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time, ¹⁴ 

John 8:16-18

8:16 But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate, ¹⁵  because I am not alone when I judge, ¹⁶  but I and the Father who sent me do so together. ¹⁷  8:17 It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. ¹⁸  8:18 I testify about myself ¹⁹  and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

John 17:21

17:21 that they will all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. I pray ²⁰  that they will be in us, so that the world will believe that you sent me.

¹ 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.

² 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”).

³ 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.

⁴ tn Heb “I will wave my hand over them” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “raise my hand against them.”

⁵ tn Heb “on that day.” The descriptive phrase “of salvation” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

⁶ tc 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).

⁷ sn Those who are far away is probably a reference to later groups of returning exiles under Ezra, Nehemiah, and others.

⁸ tn Heb “from the time of its occurring.”

⁹ sn The speaker here is not identified specifically, but he is probably Cyrus, the Lord’s “ally” mentioned in vv. 14-15.

¹⁰ sn That is, “to judge the world to be guilty and liable to punishment.”

¹¹ tn Or “works.”

¹² tn Grk “complete, which I am now doing”; the referent of the relative pronoun has been specified by repeating “deeds” from the previous clause.

¹³ tn The word “people” is not in the Greek text, but is supplied to clarify that the following verbs (“heard,” “seen,” “have residing,” “do not believe”) are second person plural.

¹⁴ sn You people have never heard his voice nor seen his form at any time. Compare Deut 4:12. Also see Deut 5:24 ff., where the Israelites begged to hear the voice no longer – their request (ironically) has by this time been granted. How ironic this would be if the feast is Pentecost, where by the 1st century a.d. the giving of the law at Sinai was being celebrated.

¹⁵ tn Grk “my judgment is true.”

¹⁶ tn The phrase “when I judge” is not in the Greek text, but is implied by the context.

¹⁷ tn The phrase “do so together” is not in the Greek text, but is implied by the context.

¹⁸ sn An allusion to Deut 17:6.

¹⁹ tn Grk “I am the one who testifies about myself.”

²⁰ tn The words “I pray” are repeated from the first part of v. 20 for clarity.