Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown: Translators should be careful not to make the words Take from them sound as if the men named in verse 10 were unwilling to give. This could be avoided in English by saying “accept from them,” or as Good News Translation says, “the silver and gold they have given.”

The word translated crown has given rise to much discussion. In Hebrew it has a form that is apparently plural, so it is translated as “crowns” in King James Version, Revised Version, and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh. The difficulty with this is that the traditional text speaks of only one person being crowned, so that only one crown is needed.

Ancient crowns were commonly made of circular-shaped pieces of metal, often more than one of these being used. The mention of both silver and gold here has made some scholars think that the crown in this case consisted of two circular-shaped pieces, one of silver and one of gold, and that this accounts for the plural form of the word. However, in verse 14 the same Hebrew word is used and is followed by a singular verb. The Septuagint translated it as plural in verse 11 and singular in verse 14, but the ancient Syriac translated it as singular in both places. Although the Hebrew word has an ending that is normally a plural marker, it is possible that in this case it is not a plural but an unusual and old-fashioned singular. The same word occurs in Job 31.36, where it must be singular, and so on balance, translators are advised to treat it as singular both here and in verse 14.

And set it upon the head of Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: Many scholars have considered it unlikely that Zechariah would speak of crowning the high priest rather than the civil governor. Accordingly, some have said that the word crown should be regarded as plural, and the name of the civil governor, Zerubbabel, added to the text. Others have preferred to treat crown as singular and to substitute Zerubbabel’s name for that of Joshua, and this is what Moffatt has done in his translation. Although from a historical point of view, it may seem more likely that Zechariah would speak of crowning Zerubbabel, nevertheless both the Hebrew text and the ancient versions name only Joshua, and translators should retain this name. If, like Redditt (1995), they believe that Zerubbabel was originally intended, then they could mention this possibility in a footnote, as do Jerusalem Bible and New English Bible. For Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, see the notes on Hag 1.1.

It is possible to combine verses 10 and 11 as follows:

• Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah have returned from Babylonia. You yourself must go at once to the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, and they will give you silver and gold. Make a crown, then put it on the head of the high priest Joshua, the son of Jehozadak.

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 .