And I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: This is very old-fashioned English. Modern versions express the meaning more naturally as “I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem” (New International Version; similarly New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible/ Revised English Bible, Good News Translation, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version). The prophet is here promising an end to the shortage of people in the city (compare verses 4-5).
They shall be my people and I will be their God: These words echo several other parts of the Old Testament, for instance Lev 26.12; Jer 7.23; Jer 11.4; Jer 24.7; Ezek 11.20; Ezek 36.28; Ezek 37.23, 27. They give the sense that the covenant relationship between the LORD and his people will be restored, so that the people will have a new opportunity to enjoy the fellowship with God that God always wanted them to have. Their God in some languages will be expressed as “the God they worship.”
In faithfulness and in righteousness: These terms would remind the readers of Hos 2.19-20. They make clear that the basis of the intimate relationship between the LORD and his people is an ethical one. The Hebrew does not indicate whether in faithfulness and in righteousness applies to the people, to the LORD, or to both parties. Good News Translation takes this phrase as applying only to the LORD, and translates it as “ruling over them faithfully and justly” (New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, Bible en français courant, and Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch taking the same view). However, other versions seem to apply the phrase to both parties (Moffatt, New American Bible, New English Bible/ Revised English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible), though all are somewhat ambiguous. Only Knox clearly includes both parties, expressing this meaning in clear but stilted English as “in troth and loyalty either to other bound.”
It is also possible that we are here dealing with a chiasmus (A-B-B-A structure). If this is so, then in the sequence “people-God-faithfulness-righteousness,” faithfulness is the quality that God displays, and righteousness the quality that the people display (Baldwin). This suggestion is an attractive one, and if translators accept it, a possible translation base is “they will be my righteous people and I will be their faithful God.”
Both faithfulness and righteousness are difficult ideas to translate in many languages. The essential feature of faithfulness is reliability, adherence to truthfulness and to a person’s obligations. This term is translated as “truth” by New English Bible and New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, and as “loyally” by Moffatt (compare Bible en français courant). Righteousness as a human quality means basically showing moral integrity by acting justly in dealings with other people. It is translated “justly” in Good News Translation (compare “justice” in New American Bible, New English Bible/ Revised English Bible, Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente; “integrity” in Jerusalem Bible; and “sincerity” in New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh).
A possible alternative model for the last half of the verse, attributing faithfulness to God and righteousness to human beings is the following:
• They will be my people and I will be their God. I will be faithful to them and they will deal justly with each other.
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 .