Zechariah 6:8

6:8 Then he cried out to me, “Look! The ones going to the northland have brought me ¹  peace about the northland.” ² 

Zechariah 7:14

7:14 ‘Rather, I will sweep them away in a storm into all the nations they are not familiar with.’ Thus the land had become desolate because of them, with no one crossing through or returning, for they had made the fruitful ³  land a waste.”

Zechariah 10:10

10:10 I will bring them back from Egypt and gather them from Assyria. ⁴  I will bring them to the lands of Gilead and Lebanon, for there will not be enough room for them in their own land.

Zechariah 12:1

The Repentance of Judah

12:1 The revelation of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: The Lord – he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person ⁵  – says,

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.

³ tn Or “desirable”; traditionally “pleasant” (so many English versions; cf. TEV “This good land”).

⁵ sn I will bring them back from Egypt…from Assyria. The gathering of God’s people to their land in eschatological times will be like a reenactment of the exodus, but this time they will come from all over the world (cf. Isa 40:3-5; 43:1-7, 14-21; 48:20-22; 51:9-11).

⁷ tn Heb “who forms the spirit of man within him” (so NIV).