Zechariah 7:4

7:4 The word of the Lord who rules over all then came to me,

Zechariah 8:1

The Blessing of True Fasting

8:1 Then the word of the Lord who rules over all 1  came to me as follows:

Zechariah 8:18

8:18 The word of the Lord who rules over all came to me as follows:

Zechariah 8:14

8:14 “For the Lord who rules over all says, ‘As I had planned to hurt 2  you when your fathers made me angry,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘and I was not sorry,

1 sn Lord who rules over all. There is a remarkable concentration of this name of God in this section of Zechariah. Of 53 occurrences of יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת (yÿhvah tsÿva’ot) in the Hebrew text in the book, 18 are in this chapter. The reason is the sheer human impossibility of accomplishing what lies ahead – it must be done by the Lord who rules over all.

2 tn The verb זָמַם (zamam) usually means “to plot to do evil,” but with a divine subject (as here), and in light of v. 15 where it means to plan good, the meaning here has to be the implementation of discipline (cf. NCV, CEV “punish”). God may bring hurt but its purpose is redemptive and/or pedagogical.