Zechariah 6:6

6:6 The chariot with the black horses is going to the north country and the white ones are going after them, but the spotted ones are going to the south country.

Zechariah 2:3

2:3 At this point the angelic messenger ¹  who spoke to me went out, and another messenger came to meet him

Zechariah 5:5-6

Vision Seven: The Ephah

5:5 After this the angelic messenger ²  who had been speaking to me went out and said, “Look, see what is leaving.” 5:6 I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain ³  that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’ ⁴  throughout all the earth.”

Zechariah 6:7

6:7 All these strong ones ⁵  are scattering; they have sought permission to go and walk about over the earth.” The Lord had said, “Go! Walk about over the earth!” So they are doing so.

Zechariah 10:4

10:4 From him will come the cornerstone, ⁶  the wall peg, ⁷  the battle bow, and every ruler. ⁸ 

Zechariah 14:3

14:3 Then the Lord will go to battle ⁹  and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days. ¹⁰ 

Zechariah 4:7

Oracle of Response

4:7 “What are you, you great mountain? ¹¹  Because of Zerubbabel you will become a level plain! And he will bring forth the temple ¹²  capstone with shoutings of ‘Grace! Grace!’ ¹³  because of this.”

Zechariah 6:1

Vision Eight: The Chariots

6:1 Once more I looked, and this time I saw four chariots emerging from between two mountains of bronze. ¹⁴ 

Zechariah 6:5

6:5 The messenger replied, “These are the four spirits ¹⁵  of heaven that have been presenting themselves before the Lord of all the earth.

Zechariah 6:8

6:8 Then he cried out to me, “Look! The ones going to the northland have brought me ¹⁶  peace about the northland.” ¹⁷ 

Zechariah 9:14

9:14 Then the Lord will appear above them, and his arrow will shoot forth like lightning; the Lord God will blow the trumpet and will sally forth on the southern storm winds.

Zechariah 14:8

14:8 Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, ¹⁸  half of them to the eastern sea ¹⁹  and half of them to the western sea; ²⁰  it will happen both in summer and in winter.

Zechariah 5:3-4

5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ²¹  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ²²  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.” 5:4 “I will send it out,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and it will enter the house of the thief and of the person who swears falsely in my name. It will land in the middle of his house and destroy both timber and stones.”

Zechariah 5:9

5:9 Then I looked again and saw two women ²³  going forth with the wind in their wings (they had wings like those of a stork) and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky.

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 14:2

14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem ²⁴  to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. ²⁵ 

¹ tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.

¹ tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.

¹ tn Heb “[This is] the ephah.” An ephah was a liquid or solid measure of about a bushel (five gallons or just under twenty liters). By metonymy it refers here to a measuring container (probably a basket) of that quantity.

² tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (’avonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (’enam, “their eye”), a reading that is consistent with the identification of the woman in v. 8 as wickedness, but one that is unnecessary. In 4:10 the “eye” represented divine omniscience and power; here it represents the demonic counterfeit.

¹ tn The present translation takes אֲמֻצִּים (’amutsim, “strong”) to be a descriptive of all the horses – white, black, red, and spotted (cf. NAB, NIV, NLT).

¹ sn On the NT use of the image of the cornerstone, see Luke 20:17; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6.

² sn The metaphor of the wall peg (Heb. יָתֵד, yated), together with the others in this list, describes the remarkable change that will take place at the inauguration of God’s eschatological kingdom. Israel, formerly sheep-like, will be turned into a mighty warhorse. The peg refers to a wall hook (although frequently translated “tent peg,” but cf. ASV “nail”; TWOT 1:419) from which tools and weapons were suspended, but figuratively also to the promise of God upon which all of Israel’s hopes were hung (cf. Isa 22:15-25; Ezra 9:8).

³ tn This is not the usual word to describe a king of Israel or Judah (such as מֶלֶךְ, melekh, or נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but נוֹגֵשׂ, noges, “dictator” (cf. KJV “oppressor”). The author is asserting by this choice of wording that in the messianic age God’s rule will be by force.

¹ sn The statement the Lord will go to battle introduces the conflict known elsewhere as the “battle of Armageddon,” a battle in which the Lord delivers his people and establishes his millennial reign (cf. Joel 3:12, 15-16; Ezek 38–39; Rev 16:12-21; 19:19-21).

² tn Heb “as he fights on a day of battle” (similar NASB, NIV, NRSV).

¹ sn In context, the great mountain here must be viewed as a metaphor for the enormous task of rebuilding the temple and establishing the messianic kingdom (cf. TEV “Obstacles as great as mountains”).

² tn The word “temple” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent (cf. NLT “final stone of the Temple”).

³ sn Grace is a fitting response to the idea that it was “not by strength and not by power” but by God’s gracious Spirit that the work could be done (cf. v. 6).

¹ tn Heb “two mountains, and the mountains [were] mountains of bronze.” This has been simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹ tn The Hebrew term translated “spirit” here may also be translated “wind” or “breath” depending on the context (cf. ASV, NRSV, CEV “the four winds of heaven”; NAB similar).

¹ tn Heb “my spirit.” The subject appears to be the Lord who exclaims here that the horsemen have accomplished their task of bringing peace.

² sn The immediate referent of peace about the northland is to the peace brought by Persia’s conquest of Babylonia, a peace that allowed the restoration of the Jewish people (cf. 2 Chr 36:22-23; Isa 44:28; 45:1-2). However, there is also an eschatological dimension, referring to a time when there will be perfect and universal peace.

¹ 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).

² sn The eastern sea is a reference to the Dead Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

³ sn The western sea is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

¹ tn The Hebrew word translated “curse” (אָלָה, ’alah) alludes to the covenant sanctions that attend the violation of God’s covenant with Israel (cf. Deut 29:12, 14, 20-21).

² sn Stealing and swearing falsely (mentioned later in this verse) are sins against mankind and God respectively and are thus violations of the two major parts of the Ten Commandments. These two stipulations (commandments 8 and 3) represent the whole law.

¹ sn Here two women appear as the agents of the Lord because the whole scene is feminine in nature. The Hebrew word for “wickedness” in v. 8 (רִשְׁעָה) is grammatically feminine, so feminine imagery is appropriate throughout.

¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

² tn Heb “not be cut off from the city” (so NRSV); NAB “not be removed.”