Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold: These words, with the addition of Again, are the same as in 1.18; 2.1. See the comments on 1.18. In those earlier occurrences Good News Translation translated these words as “In another vision I saw,” but here it uses “I looked again, and this time I saw.” Contemporary English Version also offers a helpful model with “When I looked the next time, I saw.”

A flying scroll: Scrolls were made of parchment (specially prepared sheep or goat skin), and were used for writing messages that needed to be recorded for future reference, such as books of Scripture (compare Jer 36.2). In this case the scroll was flying. Good News Translation makes this clearer by saying “a scroll flying through the air.” The scroll was apparently moving under its own power and was not being held by anyone.

When not in use, a scroll could be rolled up to make it easier to store. As the following verse makes clear, the scroll in this case was unrolled, and in some languages it may be helpful to say so here when the scroll is first mentioned, as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch does; for example, “I saw an open [or, unrolled] scroll flying through the air.” In areas where scrolls are unknown, it may be necessary for translators to borrow either the English term or a word from some neighboring language with a footnote or item in the glossary explaining what a scroll is. This is probably better than trying to translate scroll, as, for example, “a long piece of paper [or, parchment] with writing on it.” In any case it will also be helpful for translators to include a picture of a scroll like the one in this Handbook.

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 .