Zechariah 1:12

1:12 The angel of the Lord then asked, “Lord who rules over all, 1  how long before you have compassion on Jerusalem 2  and the other cities of Judah which you have been so angry with for these seventy years?” 3 

Zechariah 3:4

3:4 The angel 4  spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you 5  in fine clothing.”

Zechariah 4:7

Oracle of Response

4:7 “What are you, you great mountain? 6  Because of Zerubbabel you will become a level plain! And he will bring forth the temple 7  capstone with shoutings of ‘Grace! Grace!’ 8  because of this.”

Zechariah 11:6

11:6 Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land,” says the Lord, “but instead I will turn every last person over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.”

1 sn Note that here the angel of the Lord is clearly distinct from the Lord who rules over all himself.

2 map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

3 sn The seventy years refers to the predicted period of Babylonian exile, a period with flexible beginning and ending points depending on the particular circumstances in view (cf. Jer 25:1; 28:1; 29:10; Dan 9:2). Here the end of the seventy years appears to be marked by the completion of the temple in 516 b.c., exactly seventy years after its destruction in 586.

4 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the angel, cf. v. 1) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

5 tn The occurrence of the infinitive absolute here for an expected imperfect 1st person common singular (or even imperative 2nd person masculine plural or preterite 3rd person masculine plural) is well-attested elsewhere. Most English translations render this as 1st person singular (“and I will clothe”), but cf. NAB “Take off…and clothe him.”

6 sn In context, the great mountain here must be viewed as a metaphor for the enormous task of rebuilding the temple and establishing the messianic kingdom (cf. TEV “Obstacles as great as mountains”).

7 tn The word “temple” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent (cf. NLT “final stone of the Temple”).

8 sn Grace is a fitting response to the idea that it was “not by strength and not by power” but by God’s gracious Spirit that the work could be done (cf. v. 6).