So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered: These words have the effect of changing speakers from the second angel back to the first one. Because Good News Translation has confused the two angels, it sees no need to repeat these words, which refer back to the similar words in verse 8, and accordingly omits them. Translators are strongly advised not to do this, but to include the words, in some such way as this: “Then the first angel, the one who was among the myrtle trees, said….” For the use of “angel” rather than man here, see the comments on verse 8. For standing among the myrtle trees, see verse 1.8 also.

These are they whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth: These are they refers grammatically to the horses, but since they speak in the following verse, it seems likely that they have riders who are taken for granted but not mentioned directly (see the comments on verse 8). In many languages it would be helpful to mention them here, and say “These horsemen” (as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) rather than “These horses,” or one may render the whole sentence “These are the people the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”

Patrol translates a Hebrew word that means literally “to walk about” (compare New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “to roam”). Several English translations use the word patrol (Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt, New Living Translation). This is good, as it has the overtones of a military expedition that fit the context well. If translators have a word with similar overtones in their own language, this would probably be a good place to use it. Other ways to express this are “… watch carefully what is happening in the earth” (similarly Contemporary English Version) and “… carefully monitor what is happening in the world.”

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• So the angel who was among the myrtle trees answered, “These are the horsemen that the LORD has sent out to watch carefully what is happening in the world.”

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 .