In one month I destroyed the three shepherds: Some scholars wish to interpret this clause as coming from the mouth of the LORD rather than the prophet, but the Hebrew text does not support this view. In one month probably means a short period of time, but translators should retain the actual period of a month. The Hebrew verb destroyed is capable of different interpretations, and English versions range from the relatively mild “deposed” (Moffatt) and “dismissed” (Jerusalem Bible) to the more sinister “disposed of” (New Revised Standard Version) and “did away with” (New American Bible). Most use the idiomatic but vague expression “got rid of.” Revised Standard Version destroyed in the sense of “killed” is perhaps going too far. The context seems to require that the prophet’s adversaries were prevented from continuing their role as shepherds rather than that they were murdered. So other possible models are “In one month I stopped the three shepherds [or, people] from looking after the sheep” and “In one month I dismissed the three shepherds.”

There is no agreement about who the three shepherds represent. However, this is a problem of interpretation rather than translation and this Handbook does not need either to repeat the speculations of others or to introduce new ones. The use of the article the indicates that the three shepherds are old information, or at least known to the original readers from their wider life setting. If this was the case, the whole clause would have been more intelligible then than it is now. The key to its interpretation is, quite simply, lost. There is no justification for identifying them as “bad shepherds” as Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch does.

But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me: Although the words in this sentence are not difficult, there are two problems in deciding how it fits into its context. The first is to decide what conjunction, if any, should link this sentence to the earlier part of the verse. The second is to decide who them and they refer to. The answer to the first question to some extent depends on the answer to the second, so we will discuss the two issues together.

The Hebrew suffixes translated by them and they are both masculine plural, so they would normally refer back to a masculine plural noun. The nearest one is the three shepherds of the first sentence (compare Good News Translation and Contemporary English Version). If this possibility is accepted, then the second sentence has to be treated as explaining why the prophet got rid of the three shepherds. Versions that follow this understanding introduce the second sentence with “for” (Revised Version, New Revised Standard Version, New English Bible). The problem with this view is that the Hebrew contains no such conjunction.

Other versions take the view that the second sentence should be linked more closely with verse 9 than with the first sentence of verse 8, and that them and they must refer to the sheep. The problem with this view is that them and they are masculine, whereas the sheep in verse 9 (as in verse 5) are referred to with feminine forms. This view is widespread despite its overruling of the Hebrew grammar. Versions that follow this understanding introduce the second sentence of verse 8 with “But” (Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New Living Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or with no conjunction at all (New International Version, Revised English Bible, Beck, Traduction œcuménique de la Bible).

There is a third possibility, though it is not found in any available version. New Jerusalem Bible treats the first sentence of verse 8 as subordinate to, and closely linked with, the end of verse 7, but does not fully develop this possibility. If this sentence is indeed almost parenthetical, then the masculine suffixes in the second sentence could be understood to refer back, not to the three shepherds, but to the sheep merchants in verse 7. The sense would be that the merchants became irritated with the prophet because of the way he had treated the three shepherds, presumably other employees of the merchants. This view would also have a bearing on the meaning of verse 9, where the prophet would be addressing the merchants rather than the sheep. See the notes on verse 9.

I became impatient is in Hebrew an idiom, which is literally “my soul was short.” In some languages translators may be able to use some equivalent idiom, such as “my heart/liver was hot.”

Detested translates a Hebrew word that occurs nowhere else in Scripture. Its meaning therefore has to be worked out from the present context. Other renderings include “behaved badly” (New American Bible), “were disgusted” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), “come to abhor” (New English Bible/ Revised English Bible), and simplest of all, “hated” (Good News Translation). This last option seems preferable.

A translation model for verses 7-8 on the view set out above is:

• 7 So, on behalf of the sheep dealers, I became shepherd of the flock bred for slaughter. I took two sticks, and called one “Grace” and the other “Unity.” I looked after the sheep, 8 and got rid of the three shepherds within one month. I became impatient with the sheep dealers, and they also hated me.

Translators are advised to follow this interpretation.

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 .