For before those days: For introduces the first of the two reasons given why the hearers should “Let your hands be strong” (verse 9). The second reason is introduced by “For” in verse 12. Before those days refers to the time before the rebuilding of the Temple was begun in earnest in September 520 B.C. (Hag 1.15). Good News Translation has “Before that time” (so also Contemporary English Version). Three aspects of the trouble the people endured are described in the rest of the verse.

The first is there was no wage for man or any wage for beast. This may be taken either literally or figuratively. Good News Translation interprets wage to refer literally to money, and translates “no one could afford to hire either men or animals.” However, money was not common in the community at that time, and a number of commentators (Driver, Mitchell, Cashdan, Delcor, Chary) take wage to mean reward in a more general sense, and to refer to the reward of agricultural labor, namely crops. This verse would then be saying much the same thing as Hag 1.6, 10-11; Hag 2.16-17. This does seem the more probable explanation, especially in the light of verse 12 below. Therefore translators may, if they wish, translate this clause as “the labor of men and animals failed to produce good crops.” However, we should note that all available modern versions that make their choice clear agree with the Good News Translation interpretation. It is impossible to know to what extent the translators seriously considered the alternative mentioned in the commentaries listed above. Translators will have to make their own decision which interpretation to take. Despite the weight of modern versions in favor of a literal interpretation, this Handbook still recommends that wages should be understood as referring to crops (see the translation model above).

The second aspect of the people’s trouble is neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in. As stated in Ezra 4.1-5, the returning Jewish exiles faced considerable opposition from the peoples around them. Him who went out or came in is a Hebrew idiom (compare Deut 28.6; Deut 31.2; 2 Chr 15.5). It refers to people just going about their normal business, and does not focus particularly on traveling, though this would of course be included. Good News Translation gives the meaning in general terms as “no one was safe from enemies.” Other helpful renderings include “because of the enemy there was no security for a man to go about his business” (Jerusalem Bible), “No one could go about his business safely because of his enemy” (New International Version; compare New English Bible/ Revised English Bible), and more simply “no one was safe anywhere” (Contemporary English Version).

The third aspect of the people’s trouble is for I set every man against his fellow. The word for is misleading, as Driver pointed out long ago, and is not in fact what the Hebrew says. The inclusion of for makes it sound as if this third clause of the verse is an explanation of the condition described in the second. It is really the third aspect of the troubled times the people had suffered before they took the rebuilding of the Temple seriously. In addition to poor crops and opposition from foreign enemies, there was internal dissent in the community. We do not know the reason for this, but apparently it had died down since the rebuilding began. Good News Translation omits any conjunction, translating “I turned people against one another,” and thus makes it clear that this clause is not subordinate to the previous one (compare Jerusalem Bible, Beck, New Living Translation, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Other modern versions use “and” instead of for (New English Bible, New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, New Revised Standard Version, 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 .