Paragraph 1:8–10
This paragraph gives background information for the events in 1:11–20. These events happened in the temple of God in Jerusalem. The temple had several courtyards. The ordinary people remained in the courtyards while the priests went into the temple building to offer incense and other sacrifices. It may be helpful to have a picture of the temple and the temple courtyards here in your translation.
1:8a
One day: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as One day is literally “it happened.” Here it introduces a background event that led to the events in 1:11–20. Begin this paragraph in a natural way in your language. Some ways to do this in English are:
Once (New International Version)
-or-
Now it happened that (New American Standard Bible)
while Zechariah’s division was on duty: The group of priests to which Zechariah belonged served in the temple for two periods each year. During each period they served for one week. The following incident happened during one of these weeks.
Zechariah’s division: The term Zechariah’s division refers to the group of priests to which Zechariah belonged. It does not mean that Zechariah was the leader of this group. Another way to translate this is:
the division that Zechariah belonged to
Because Zechariah’s division was already described in 1:5c as “the division of Abijah,” it may be helpful in some languages to say that here. For example:
when the division ⌊of Abijah⌋ that Zechariah belonged to was on duty
The word division here is the same word as in 1:5c.
on duty: The Greek phrase that the Berean Standard Bible translates as on duty means “taking its turn.” It was the turn of Zechariah’s division of priests to work in the temple. You may need to make it explicit that Zechariah was on duty in the temple.
1:8b
and he was serving as priest: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates as serving as priest means that Zechariah was doing the work that he was supposed to do because he was a priest. He was fulfilling his responsibility as a priest. Other ways to say this are:
he was serving God as a priest (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Zechariah was doing his work as a priest (Good News Translation)
before God: The phrase before God indicates that Zechariah was working “in the presence of God.” He was working at the temple, and the Jews believed that God was present in a special way in the temple.
Some other ways to express the meaning are:
he was serving God as a priest (Contemporary English Version)
-or-
Zechariah was serving God in the Temple (New Living Translation (2004))
-or-
As he served in God’s presence (God’s Word)
General Comment on 1:8a–b
In some languages, it may be more natural to reverse the order of 1:8a and 1:8b. For example:
One day 8bZechariah was serving as a priest before God, because 8ahis group was on duty. (New Century Version)
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