Ezra 6:10-12

6:10 so that they may be offering incense to the God of heaven and may be praying for the good fortune of the king and his family. ¹ 

6:11 “I hereby give orders that if anyone changes this directive a beam is to be pulled out from his house and he is to be raised up and impaled ²  on it, and his house is to be reduced ³  to a rubbish heap ⁴  for this indiscretion. ⁵  6:12 May God who makes his name to reside there overthrow any king or nation ⁶  who reaches out ⁷  to cause such change so as to destroy this temple of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have given orders. Let them be carried out with precision!”

Zechariah 12:3

12:3 Moreover, on that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy burden ⁸  for all the nations, and all who try to carry it will be seriously injured; ⁹  yet all the peoples of the earth will be assembled against it.

[6:10]  ¹ tn Aram “for the life of the king and his sons.”

[6:11]  ² sn The practice referred to in v. 11 has been understood in various ways: hanging (cf. 1 Esd 6:32 and KJV); flogging (cf. NEB, NLT); impalement (BDB 1091 s.v. זְקַף; HALOT 1914 s.v. מחא hitpe; cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The latter seems the most likely.

[6:11]  ³ tn Aram “made.”

[6:11]  ⁴ tn Aram “a dunghill.”

[6:11]  ⁵ tn Aram “for this.”

[6:12]  ⁶ tn Aram “people.”

[6:12]  ⁷ tn Aram “who sends forth his hand.”

[12:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “heavy stone” (so NRSV, TEV, NLT); KJV “burdensome stone”; NIV “an immovable rock.”

[12:3]  ⁹ sn In Israel’s and Judah’s past they had been uprooted by various conquerors such as the Assyrians and the Babylonians. In the eschaton, however, they will be so “heavy” with God’s glory and so rooted in his promises that no nation will be able to move them.