Thus says the LORD of hosts has no equivalent in Good News Translation. See the comments on verse 2. The rest of the verse is somewhat more difficult than those before it. In Hebrew the sentence has the form of a rhetorical question, a question that does not expect an answer, but is really a way of making an emphatic statement. Revised Standard Version keeps the question form as do most modern versions, but in many languages it may be better to follow the example of Good News Translation, Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, and Contemporary English Version and turn it into a statement.
If it is marvelous: The Hebrew does not state what the it refers to, but most commentators take it to refer to the promises in the three previous oracles. Some translators may need to make this clear and say “If these promises seem…” or “These promises may seem….” Marvelous has the sense of “too marvelous to believe,” and Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version express this more briefly with “This may seem impossible.”
In the sight of the remnant of this people in these days: Again Good News Translation simplifies to “to those of the nation who are now left,” that is to say, to the people who were living at the same time as Zechariah. Contemporary English Version translates this expression as “for my people who are left.”
In these days is a phrase that is usually translated “in those days” (as in verse 23), and that in Hebrew usually refers to the future. Some translators take it that way here (New English Bible, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh; compare Bible en français courant). The meaning of this interpretation is that when the promises of the previous verses are fulfilled, it will seem too wonderful to believe, even for the people who see it happen. Other translators, however, including Moffatt, Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, think that the context requires the words to refer to the present. Thus Revised Standard Version translates in these days rather than “in those days,” and Good News Translation has simply “now.” On this interpretation the oracle is a challenge to those who heard it. They might find the picture of happiness in the previous verses too good to be true, but that did not mean it was beyond the LORD’s power to bring it about.
The second interpretation seems more probable, and is the one recommended to translators.
Should it also be marvelous in my sight: This is the main clause of the sentence, and is put as a statement in Good News Translation “but it’s not impossible for me” (similarly Contemporary English Version). Another possibility is “But I will make it happen.”
Says the LORD of hosts has no equivalent in Good News Translation. It is not the same expression in Hebrew as that used at the beginning of verses 2, 3, 4, and 6. The words used here tend to come more often at the end of an oracle, and their use at this point may suggest that the prophet intended to make a bigger break at the end of this oracle than at the end of any of the previous three. If this is so, the effect is to link the four oracles of verses 2-6 together. Even if this is true for the Hebrew, it will be impossible to show it in translation in many languages. In some languages the effect might be maintained by beginning a new paragraph with verse 7 if translators have not done so at verses 3, 4, and 6. In other languages there may be ways of marking a break that is less important than a new paragraph, but more important than just a new sentence. If so, such a marker may be appropriate here. Good News Translation links verse 6 with verses 7-8 in a single paragraph, but this does not really reflect the structure of the Hebrew, and we advise translators not to copy it.
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .