Discovery BoxZechariah 1:11 
Context1:11 The riders then agreed with the angel of the Lord, 1 who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been walking about on the earth, and now everything is at rest and quiet.”
Zechariah 5:6
Context5:6 I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain 2 that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’ 3 throughout all the earth.”
Zechariah 13:8
Context13:8 It will happen in all the land, says the Lord,
that two-thirds of the people 4 in it will be cut off and die,
but one-third will be left in it. 5
1 sn The angel of the
2 tn Heb “[This is] the ephah.” An ephah was a liquid or solid measure of about a bushel (five gallons or just under twenty liters). By metonymy it refers here to a measuring container (probably a basket) of that quantity.
3 tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (’avonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (’enam, “their eye”), a reading that is consistent with the identification of the woman in v. 8 as wickedness, but one that is unnecessary. In 4:10 the “eye” represented divine omniscience and power; here it represents the demonic counterfeit.
4 tn The words “of the people” are supplied in the translation for clarity (cf. NCV, TEV, NLT).
5 sn The fractions mentioned here call to mind the affliction of God’s people described by Ezekiel, though Ezekiel referred to his own times whereas Zechariah is looking forward to a future eschatological age. Ezekiel spoke of cutting his hair at God’s command (Ezek 5:1-4) and then of burning a third of it, striking a third with a sword, and scattering the rest. From this last third a few hairs would survive to become the nucleus of a new Israel. It is this “third” Zechariah speaks of (v. 9), the remnant who will be purified and reclaimed as God’s covenant people.
