Zechariah 1:7

The Introduction to the Visions

1:7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in Darius’ second year, ¹  the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, as follows:

Zechariah 2:8

2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ²  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ³  of his ⁴  eye.

Zechariah 4:2

4:2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, ⁵  “I see a menorah of pure gold with a receptacle at the top and seven lamps, with fourteen pipes going to the lamps.

Zechariah 5:3

5:3 The speaker went on to say, “This is a curse ⁶  traveling across the whole earth. For example, according to the curse whoever steals ⁷  will be removed from the community; or on the other hand (according to the curse) whoever swears falsely will suffer the same fate.”

Zechariah 8:21

8:21 The inhabitants of one will go to another and say, “Let’s go up at once to ask the favor of the Lord, to seek the Lord who rules over all. Indeed, I’ll go with you.”’

Zechariah 12:10

12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship ⁸  of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, ⁹  the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. ¹⁰ 

Zechariah 13:3

13:3 Then, if anyone prophesies in spite of this, his father and mother to whom he was born will say to him, ‘You cannot live, for you lie in the name of the Lord.’ Then his father and mother to whom he was born will run him through with a sword when he prophesies. ¹¹ 

Zechariah 14:2

14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem ¹²  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. ¹³ 

Zechariah 14:5

14:5 Then you will escape ¹⁴  through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. ¹⁵  Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah ¹⁶  of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.

[1:7]  ¹ sn The twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month…in Darius’ second year was February 15, 519 b.c.

[2:8]  ² 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.

[2:8]  ³ 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”).

[2:8]  ⁴ 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.

[4:2]  ³ tc The present translation (along with most other English versions) follows the reading of the Qere and many ancient versions, “I said,” as opposed to the MT Kethib “he said.”

[5:3]  ⁴ 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).

[5:3]  ⁵ 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.

[12:10]  ⁵ tn Or “dynasty”; Heb “house.”

[12:10]  ⁶ tc Because of the difficulty of the concept of the mortal piercing of God, the subject of this clause, and the shift of pronoun from “me” to “him” in the next, many mss read אַלֵי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ale ’et ’asher, “to the one whom,” a reading followed by NAB, NRSV) rather than the MT’s אֵלַי אֵת אֲשֶׁר (’ela ’et ’asher, “to me whom”). The reasons for such alternatives, however, are clear – they are motivated by scribes who found such statements theologically objectionable – and they should be rejected in favor of the more difficult reading (lectio difficilior) of the MT.

[12:10]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew term בְּכוֹר (bÿkhor, “firstborn”), translated usually in the LXX by πρωτότοκος (prwtotokos), has unmistakable messianic overtones as the use of the Greek term in the NT to describe Jesus makes clear (cf. Col 1:15, 18). Thus, the idea of God being pierced sets the stage for the fatal wounding of Jesus, the Messiah and the Son of God (cf. John 19:37; Rev 1:7). Note that some English translations supply “son” from the context (e.g., NIV, TEV, NLT).

[13:3]  ⁶ sn Death (in this case being run…through with a sword) was the penalty required in the OT for prophesying falsely (Deut 13:6-11; 18:20-22).

[14:2]  ⁷ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[14:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “not be cut off from the city” (so NRSV); NAB “not be removed.”

[14:5]  ⁸ tc For the MT reading נַסְתֶּם (nastem, “you will escape”) the LXX presupposes נִסְתַּם (nistam, “will be stopped up”; this reading is followed by NAB). This appears to derive from a perceived need to eliminate the unexpected “you” as subject. This not only is unnecessary to Hebrew discourse (see “you” in the next clause), but it contradicts the statement in the previous verse that the mountain will be split open, not stopped up.

[14:5]  ⁹ sn Azal is a place otherwise unknown.

[14:5]  ¹⁰ sn The earthquake in the days of King Uzziah, also mentioned in Amos 1:1, is apparently the one attested to at Hazor in 760 b.c.