Zechariah 1:9

The Interpretation of the First Vision

1:9 Then I asked one nearby, “What are these, sir?” The angelic messenger 1  who replied to me said, “I will show you what these are.”

Zechariah 2:10

2:10 “Sing out and be happy, Zion my daughter! 2  For look, I have come; I will settle in your midst,” says the Lord.

Zechariah 5:2

5:2 Someone asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.” 3 

Zechariah 8:8

8:8 And I will bring them to settle within Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, 4  in truth and righteousness.’

Zechariah 8:11

8:11 But I will be different now to this remnant of my people from the way I was in those days,’ says the Lord who rules over all,

Zechariah 9:12

9:12 Return to the stronghold, you prisoners, with hope; today I declare that I will return double what was taken from you.

Zechariah 10:8

10:8 I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before.

Zechariah 11:8

11:8 Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, 5  for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well.

Zechariah 11:10

11:10 Then I took my staff “Pleasantness” and cut it in two to annul my covenant that I had made with all the people.

Zechariah 13:5

13:5 Instead he will say, ‘I am no prophet – indeed, I am a farmer, for a man has made me his indentured servant since my youth.’ 6 

1 tn Heb “messenger” or “angel” (מַלְאָךְ, mal’akh). This being appears to serve as an interpreter to the prophet (cf. vv. 13, 14).

2 sn This individualizing of Zion as a daughter draws attention to the corporate nature of the covenant community and also to the tenderness with which the Lord regards his chosen people.

3 tn Heb “twenty cubits…ten cubits” (so NAB, NRSV). These dimensions (“thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide”) can hardly be referring to the scroll when unrolled since that would be all out of proportion to the normal ratio, in which the scroll would be 10 to 15 times as long as it was wide. More likely, the scroll is 15 feet thick when rolled, a hyperbole expressing the enormous amount and the profound significance of the information it contains.

4 sn The affirmation They will be my people, and I will be their God speaks of covenant renewal, a restoration of the unbroken fellowship the Lord desired to have with his people but which their disloyalty had shattered. In the eschaton God and Israel will be in covenant union once again (cf. Jer 31:33).

5 sn Zechariah is only dramatizing what God had done historically (see the note on the word “cedars” in 11:1). The “one month” probably means just any short period of time in which three kings ruled in succession. Likely candidates are Elah, Zimri, Tibni (1 Kgs 16:8-20); Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem (2 Kgs 15:8-16); or Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah (2 Kgs 24:1–25:7).

6 tn Or perhaps “for the land has been my possession since my youth” (so NRSV; similar NAB).