Zechariah 2:8

For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ¹  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ²  of his ³  eye.

Ge 20:6; De 32:10; 2Ki 24:2; Ps 17:8; Ps 105:13-15; Isa 48:15,16; Isa 60:7-14; Jer 50:17,18; Jer 51:34,35; Eze 25:6,7,12,15; Eze 26:2; Eze 35:5; Joe 3:2-8; Am 1:3-5,9,11,13; Ob 1:10-16; Mic 4:11; Mic 5:6; Mic 7:10; Hab 2:8,17; Zep 2:8; Zec 1:15,16; Zec 2:4,5; Zec 2:9,11; Mal 3:1; Mt 25:40,45; Joh 14:23,24,26; Joh 15:21-23; Joh 17:18; Ac 9:4; 2Th 1:6; 1Jo 4:9,10,14

¹ tn Heb “After glory has he sent me” (similar KJV, NASB). What is clearly in view is the role of Zechariah who, by faithful proclamation of the message, will glorify the Lord.

² tn Heb “gate” (בָּבָה, bavah) of the eye, that is, pupil. The rendering of this term by KJV as “apple” has created a well-known idiom in the English language, “the apple of his eye” (so ASV, NIV). The pupil is one of the most vulnerable and valuable parts of the body, so for Judah to be considered the “pupil” of the Lord’s eye is to raise her value to an incalculable price (cf. NLT “my most precious possession”).

³ tc A scribal emendation (tiqqun sopherim) has apparently altered an original “my eye” to “his eye” in order to allow the prophet to be the speaker throughout vv. 8-9. This alleviates the problem of the Lord saying, in effect, that he has sent himself on the mission to the nations.