And I will put this third into the fire: This third is of course the third of the people who survive and remain in the land. At first sight into the fire may seem to be another kind of punishment, but the next two clauses indicate that it is not punishment, but rather testing. Good News Translation makes this clear with “I will test the third that survives.” The fire is metaphorical, and the picture is drawn from the technology of smelting (that is, refining) metal.

And refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested: Precious metals like silver and gold are melted so that when the metal is in liquid form, the impurities can be removed. In this way the materials are tested and the metal brought to a higher level of purity. New English Bible and Revised English Bible use the technical terminology “assay them as gold is assayed.” Refine is also a technical term, and some versions replace it with “purify,” which is not only simpler language but also hints at the application of the metaphor to the people of God (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version; similarly New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). The metaphor of refining metals is found a number of times in the Old Testament (see for instance Psa 66.10; Pro 17.3; Isa 1.25; Isa 48.10; Jer 9.7; Ezek 22.17-22; Mal 3.3; see also Wisdom of Solomon 3.5-6).

A possible alternative model for these first three lines is the following:

• Then I will purify the third that survives and test them just as gold and silver are tested and purified.

In languages that do not use the passive, translators may say:

• Then I will purify those who survive and test them just as metalworkers test and purify gold and silver.

The result of this purifying and testing is stated in the rest of the verse. It takes the form of two pairs of clauses, each pair describing a reciprocal relationship between the people and the LORD.

They will call on my name, and I will answer them: They translates a Hebrew pronoun that is singular, referring back to the “one third” group. This is clearly collective in sense, and so will be translated as plural in many languages. Most English versions use a plural, the exception being New Jerusalem Bible (compare Bible de Jérusalem, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible). The expression call on my name means “pray to me,” and is so translated in Good News Translation (also Bible en français courant, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Compare 7.13.

I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God’: I will say is actually a perfect verb form in Hebrew, but most translators follow the ancient versions in treating it as a future, which seems to fit the context better than a past. The difference in Hebrew is only one letter. Revised Standard Version is somewhat inconsistent in translating the Hebrew singular pronouns as They … they … yet retaining the singular possessive my God. New Revised Standard Version smooths this out by changing to “our God” (so also New English Bible, New International Version, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Good News Translation puts the two quotations into indirect speech, but this loses the vigor of the Hebrew. In languages where direct quotations are acceptable style, they are preferable here.

The language of the declarations ‘They are my people’ … ‘The LORD is my God’ is the traditional language for expressing the covenant relationship (compare Deut 26.17-18; Jer 7.23; Jer 24.7; Jer 30.22; Jer 31.33; Jer 32.38; Ezek 11.20; Ezek 14.11; Ezek 36.28; Ezek 37.23, 27; Zech 8.8). Its use here indicates that the prophet has in view a renewal of the covenant relationship between the LORD and his people as a result of the time of testing and purification. Translators should translate the traditional expressions here in the same way as they have been translated elsewhere.

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 .