Zechariah 8:6

8:6 And,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘though such a thing may seem to be difficult in the opinion of the small community of those days, will it also appear difficult to me?’ asks the Lord who rules over all.

Zechariah 8:1

The Blessing of True Fasting

8:1 Then the word of the Lord who rules over all ¹  came to me as follows:

Zechariah 3:1

Vision Four: The Priest

3:1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest ²  standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan ³  standing at his right hand to accuse him.

Revelation 17:6-7

17:6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of those who testified to Jesus. ⁴  I ⁵  was greatly astounded ⁶  when I saw her. 17:7 But ⁷  the angel said to me, “Why are you astounded? I will interpret ⁸  for you the mystery of the woman and of the beast with the seven heads and ten horns that carries her.

¹ sn Lord who rules over all. There is a remarkable concentration of this name of God in this section of Zechariah. Of 53 occurrences of יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת (yÿhvah tsÿva’ot) in the Hebrew text in the book, 18 are in this chapter. The reason is the sheer human impossibility of accomplishing what lies ahead – it must be done by the Lord who rules over all.

² sn Joshua the high priest mentioned here is the son of the priest Jehozadak, mentioned also in Hag 1:1 (cf. Ezra 2:2; 3:2, 8; 4:3; 5:2; 10:18; Neh 7:7; 12:1, 7, 10, 26). He also appears to have been the grandfather of the high priest contemporary with Nehemiah ca. 445 b.c. (Neh 12:10).

³ tn The Hebrew term הַשָּׂטָן (hassatan, “the satan”) suggests not so much a personal name (as in almost all English translations) but an epithet, namely, “the adversary.” This evil being is otherwise thus described in Job 1 and 2 and 1 Chr 21:1. In this last passage the article is dropped and “the satan” becomes “Satan,” a personal name.

⁴ tn Or “of the witnesses to Jesus.” Here the genitive ᾿Ιησοῦ (Ihsou) is taken as an objective genitive; Jesus is the object of their testimony.

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁶ tn Grk “I marveled a great marvel” (an idiom for great astonishment).

⁷ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

⁸ tn Grk “I will tell you,” but since what follows is the angel’s interpretation of the vision, “interpret for you” is the preferred translation here.