1:68a
Blessed be the Lord: Zechariah used the Greek expression that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as Blessed be the Lord to express praise and thanks to God. He implied that God was worthy of praise and that everyone should speak wonderful things about him. Some other ways to translate this are:
Let us praise the Lord (New Century Version)
-or-
Praise belongs to the Lord
-or-
The Lord is worthy of praise
See bless, Meaning 4, in the Glossary. See also Lord, Context 2, in the Glossary.
the God of Israel: The phrase the God of Israel means “the God whom the people of Israel serve/worship.” Since Zechariah was an Israelite, in some languages it may be necessary to translate this as:
the God whom ⌊we⌋ Israelites ⌊serve/worship⌋
1:68b–69
At the time when Zechariah spoke, God had not yet delivered his people. But Zechariah knew that God had started to deliver them. He knew this because the angel had promised that his son John would “make ready a people prepared” (1:17) for the Deliverer whom God would send. In 1:68b–69 Zechariah used verb forms that would normally imply that God had already delivered the people. Hebrew prophets often spoke in that way to emphasize that the events about which they prophesied would certainly happen.
In some languages, speaking in that way may wrongly imply that the events had already happened. If that is true in your language, you may need to translate the verbs in a different way. Use a form in your language that describes either:
(a) a process that has begun (but is not yet finished), or
(b) a series of events that is described as one single event. Some of the events in the series may be past and others may be present or future.
See the introduction to Section 1:67–80 for more information. Some other ways to translate the events in 1:68b–69 are:
…he has come and has begun to redeem his people. He is raising up a horn of salvation…
-or-
…he has come and is redeeming his people. He is raising up a horn of salvation…
-or-
…he will certainly come and will redeem his people. He will raise up a horn of salvation…
You may also want to include a footnote in your translation to explain these things.
1:68b
because: The Greek conjunction that the Berean Standard Bible translates as because introduces a reason why the Lord is worthy of praise. This part of the verse explains why Zechariah praised God in 1:68a. Connect 1:68a and 1:68b in a natural way in your language. In some languages a conjunction may not be needed. For example:
68aPraise the Lord, the God of Israel! 68bHe has come to save his people. (Contemporary English Version)
He has visited and redeemed His people: The Greek word that the Berean Standard Bible translates literally as visited means that God had come near to his people to help them. He would help them by redeeming them. Some other ways to translate this are:
he has come to help his people and has given them freedom (New Century Version)
-or-
he has come ⌊to take care of⌋ his people and redeem them
-or-
he has turned to his people and set them free (Revised English Bible)
redeemed His people: The verb redeemed means “rescued, set free, delivered.” If you must say from whom or what God had redeemed His people, you should supply “from their enemies.” This is made explicit in 1:71.
This phrase is similar to Psalm 111:9, “He provided redemption for his people.”
His people: Zechariah was an Israelite, one of God’s people. In some languages it may be necessary to indicate that explicitly. For example:
us(incl) his people
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