Behold, I will shake my hand over them: Behold may be expressed as “Look!” or “Pay attention!” in some languages, but in other languages it will be better to omit it or say, “I myself will shake….” Shaking the hand over someone is a gesture that threatens hostile action (compare Isa 11.15; Isa 19.16). Good News Translation drops the form of the gesture and translates its meaning as “fight against.” New Living Translation retains the gesture and also explains its meaning with “I will raise my fist to crush them.” Them refers to “the nations who plundered you” in the previous verse.

When the LORD fights against them, their power will be ended, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Those who had been oppressed will be avenged. Those who served them refers to captive nations, especially the Jews. Another way of saying this is “The people who once served them [or, were their slaves] will take their possessions by force.”

Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me: Zechariah is saying that when the events he foretold came true, then his authority as a prophet would be proved genuine. This statement is repeated in verse 11; 4.9; 6.15. These words are somewhat awkward here in the middle of the paragraph because they refer to the prophet as me in a setting where the LORD has been speaking of himself in the first person. Stylistic oddity is not uncommon in Zechariah. The similar expression in verse 11 is certainly part of the message, so it seems best to treat these words also as part of the message despite the clumsiness at the discourse level. This is the interpretation of Revised Standard Version/New Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible/ Revised English Bible, Beck, New Living Translation, and Contemporary English Version.

From this perspective, the punctuation of Good News Translation is misleading in this verse. Good News Translation considers that the words of the LORD stop at those who served them, and that the quotation marks should be closed there, as do Moffatt, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, Bible de Jérusalem, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, and Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente. The remaining part of the verse, Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me, is taken by Good News Translation as a comment by the prophet rather than as part of his message. If this interpretation is followed, then it may reasonably be set out as a separate statement, as in Good News Translation and Bible en français courant. But this option is not recommended.

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 .

And behold, the leaden cover was lifted: For behold see the comments on 1.8. Here Good News Translation renders it “As I watched.” The leaden cover has not been mentioned before, so Good News Translation restructures to introduce it at the beginning of the verse according to the requirements of natural English usage: “The basket had a lid made of lead.” Lead would not normally have been used for such a purpose because of its great weight. The reason for its use in this case was to prevent the person in the barrel from escaping (verse 8). In areas where “lead” is unknown, translators may say, for example, “a heavy metal called ‘lead,’ ” or simply “a very heavy metal.” We are not told who lifted the leaden cover. In languages that have no passive, translators could say “Someone lifted the lid” or even “The angel lifted the lid.” Since in verse 8 it is the angel who closes the lid, it is reasonable to suppose that it was he who had opened it.

There was a woman sitting in the ephah: The emphasis is on the woman, and in English this is conveyed better by mentioning her last, as in Good News Translation and New International Version “there in the basket sat a woman” (similarly Contemporary English Version). In some languages it may be necessary to state how the woman was sitting. Translators should not be misled by the Good News Translation illustration that shows the woman sitting with her legs stretched out in front of her. We have argued in the notes on verse 6 that the ephah was like a round barrel rather than an oblong basket, and if so, then the woman could not have sat with straight legs. Translators who need to state how she sat can assume she sat cross-legged, just as people do today in many parts of the world. The only other possibility is that she sat with her knees drawn up to her chest.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• The barrel had a lid made of lead. As I watched, the lid was lifted [or, the angel lifted the lid], and there inside the barrel I saw a woman sitting.

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 .

The direct quotation of the LORD’s words continues.

I scattered them with a whirlwind represents only one word in Hebrew, in which a root meaning “a whirlwind” is used in a bold metaphor as a verb. Probably few languages will be able to do anything similar. Good News Translation uses a simile instead of a metaphor, saying, “Like a storm I swept them away.” It is good to keep some kind of figurative language if at all possible, but if not, then translators may use plain language, such as “I dispersed them” (Bible de Jérusalem). For a similar expression, see Job 27.21.

Among all the nations which they had not known: This does not mean nations the Jews had never heard of before, but rather those they were not closely acquainted with. The unknown, whether people or places, always carries a hint of something fearful. Compare Deut 28.33, 36; Jer 9.16; Jer 16.13. Good News Translation translates this expression simply as “to live in foreign countries.” This gives the content of the Hebrew, but loses the overtones. New International Version and Revised English Bible catch something of the overtones by saying, “among all the nations where they were strangers.” A possible alternative model for the first part of the verse that keeps the Hebrew imagery is:

• As a whirlwind blows everything in its path away, so I swept them away to live in lands where they were strangers.

Thus the land they left was desolate: After the people had gone, there was nobody to cultivate the land and it became wild and overgrown.

So that no one went to and fro: There were no travelers. Moffatt puts this vividly in English as “not a foot stirred in it.” In some languages it may be possible to find an equivalent idiomatic expression. Good News Translation translates it in plain language as “with no one living in it”; Contemporary English Version has “empty of people.”

The pleasant land was made desolate: The pleasant land refers of course to what is often called the Holy Land. In this context both northern Israel and southern Judah are included. A similar expression occurs in Psa 106.24; Jer 3.19. Because this last clause is similar to the first clause of the sentence, Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version run the two together and avoid repetition. It is also possible to treat this final clause as a summary and say, “the land which should have been fruitful they turned into a desert” (similarly New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

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 .

The speaker continues to be the LORD. In the first part of the verse he speaks in the first person about himself, and in the second part, in the third person about the Messiah.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the war horse from Jerusalem: These two statements are in parallel with one another, and speak of the total removal of military equipment from both the northern (Ephraim) and southern (Jerusalem) parts of the Promised Land. This is saying in other words that the land will be reunited under the rule of the king who is the Messiah. Many translators will follow Good News Translation and translate Ephraim as “Israel,” but some may prefer to keep Ephraim and explain its meaning in a footnote or glossary entry. Compare also 10.7. It is not entirely clear whether the chariots and horses that are to be removed belong to the people of God or to their enemies. If they belong to the enemies, then the meaning is that the land will be not be attacked again. If they belong to the people of God, then it means that they will need no defenses when the Messiah rules. Commentators tend to hold the second of these views (Chary, Delcor, Petersen).

Cut off is a common Hebrew metaphor meaning destroy or “remove” (Good News Translation). I will cut off is the meaning of the Hebrew text, followed by Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, New Living Translation, Contemporary English Version, Critique Textuelle de l’Ancien Testament, and Hebrew Old Testament Text Project. The ancient Greek and Syriac translations have “he will…,” and this form is preferred by the majority of modern versions, including New American Bible, New Jerusalem Bible, Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, and even New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which rarely departs from the Hebrew text. In Hebrew there is a difference of just one consonant. The form of the word here has already occurred in verse 6 (“make an end of”).

Chariot is expressed in some languages as “war wagon pulled by horses,” “wagon for fighting pulled by horses,” or simply “a cart of war” (see Hag 2.22). In some languages war horse may be rendered as “soldiers mounted on horses.” The singular terms chariot and war horse stand for chariots and war-horses in general, and will usually be translated as plural, as in the Contemporary English Version model below. Some translators will find it better style to combine these first two lines of the verse as Contemporary English Version has done:
I, the LORD, will take away
war chariots and horses
from Israel and Jerusalem.

The battle bow shall be cut off: Because this statement is passive, it is not clear who carries out the action. In languages where it is necessary to make this clear, translators may assume that the subject is the same as in the previous clause, namely the LORD. The battle bow, though singular in form, stands for such weapons in general, and may be translated as a plural: “the bows used in battle” (Good News Translation; similarly Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

He shall command peace to the nations: There is some debate about the exact meaning of the unusual expression translated command peace (literally “speak peace,” King James Version). Delcor draws attention to Est 10.3 and Psa 122.8-9, where similar expressions are linked with another phrase meaning “seek good, seek the welfare of.” In these contexts to “speak peace” means not just making good wishes but also making practical arrangements that will ensure that the good wishes are fulfilled. This view fits the context well here. Nothing will be beyond the power of the Messiah when he rules as king. When he intends there to be peace, then it will indeed come about. Peace here has its widest sense of “total well-being,” not merely the absence of war but certainly including that. The nations are all the non-Jewish peoples. This passage echoes other prophecies of the rule of the Messiah, especially Isa 2.4; Micah 4.3-4; 5.10. Good News Translation makes it clear that “king” is the subject of this sentence, referring back to “your king” in verse 9: “Your king will make peace among the nations.” Contemporary English Version has “I will bring peace to nations,” indicating that it thinks the LORD is the subject of the verb, but this does not seem likely. Translators are advised to follow the interpretation of Good News Translation.

His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth: These words are closely similar to those of Psa 72.8. The expression is a proverbial one and in its totality it refers to the ideal extent of the Promised Land, the territory promised by God to the people of Israel (compare Exo 23.31; 1 Kgs 4.21). His dominion may often be better translated with a verb, as in Good News Translation “he will rule.”

From sea to sea means from the Mediterranean Sea across to the Dead Sea (Mitchell), or perhaps to the Gulf of Aqaba (New Jerusalem Bible footnote), that is to say the western and eastern limits of the land. The River is generally understood to be the Euphrates (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 2. Edition, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente), the idealized northern boundary of the Promised Land. The last phrase the ends of the earth is somewhat ambiguous. In the context of a description of the idealized Israel, it could well refer to the direction not yet mentioned, the south. In this direction there is no obvious natural boundary and a vague phrase like “across the earth” (Contemporary English Version) could be appropriate. Other scholars prefer to see the kingdom of the Messiah covering the whole world, and take this phrase to mean from the Euphrates eastwards as far as land extended. In Zechariah’s day there was no clear understanding of the size of the land mass making up all of Europe and Asia, and it would be quite suitable to think of the Messiah’s kingdom extending in effect beyond the limits of human knowledge. The expression the ends of the earth in English tends to make the native speaker think of the second meaning, which is found in the New Jerusalem Bible footnote (“indefinitely eastwards”) and in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, 1. Edition (compare Delcor). Either interpretation is acceptable.

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 .