But he will say, “I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the soil”: Ironically, the false prophet will deny his profession in the same terms (I am no prophet) as those used by Amos to deny that he was a false prophet (Amos 7.14). I am a tiller of the soil may be expressed in more modern terms as “I am a worker on the land” (Revised English Bible) or just “I am a farmer” (Good News Translation, New International Version).

For the land has been my possession since my youth: The Revised Standard Version rendering depends on a slight alteration of the traditional Hebrew text. This involves attaching one letter to the end of the first word rather than to the beginning of the second, and adding an extra letter in the second word. This alteration is followed by a large majority of modern versions, and makes excellent sense. Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament recommends that translators should follow the traditional text and render “I was bought as a slave” (similarly Hebrew Old Testament Text Project). The only available versions that take this option are Revised Version with “I have been made a bondman from my youth,” New American Standard Bible with “a man sold me as a slave in my youth,” and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 2. Edition. Another possibility, though a remote one, is found in King James Version and New King James Version with “man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.” The New English Bible rendering “who has been schooled in lust from boyhood” seems to suggest participation in pagan religious orgies. It has been rightly abandoned in Revised English Bible. On the whole it is difficult to resist the majority view as found in Revised Standard Version, and translators are advised to follow it.

A possible translation model for the complete utterance is “I am not a prophet, I am a farmer. I have worked on the land since I was young.”

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 .