Zakharia 12:4

12:4 In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with madness. I will pay close attention to the house of Judah, but will strike all the horses ¹  of the nations ²  with blindness.

Zakharia 12:6

12:6 On that day ³  I will make the leaders of Judah like an igniter ⁴  among sticks and a burning torch among sheaves, and they will burn up all the surrounding nations right and left. Then the people of Jerusalem will settle once more in their place, the city of Jerusalem.

Zakharia 12:8-9

12:8 On that day the Lord himself will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like mighty David, and the dynasty of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. ⁵  12:9 So on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations ⁶  that come against Jerusalem.”

Zakharia 12:11

12:11 On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad-Rimmon ⁷  in the plain of Megiddo. ⁸ 

Zakharia 2:8-9

2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ⁹  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ¹⁰  of his ¹¹  eye. 2:9 “I am about to punish them ¹²  in such a way,” he says, “that they will be looted by their own slaves.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

Zakharia 10:3-5

10:3 I am enraged at the shepherds and will punish the lead-goats.

For the Lord who rules over all has brought blessing to his flock, the house of Judah, and will transform them into his majestic warhorse. 10:4 From him will come the cornerstone, ¹³  the wall peg, ¹⁴  the battle bow, and every ruler. ¹⁵  10:5 And they will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, for the Lord will be with them, and will defeat the enemy cavalry. ¹⁶ 

Zakharia 13:1

The Refinement of Judah

13:1 “In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty ¹⁷  of David and the people of Jerusalem ¹⁸  to cleanse them from sin and impurity. ¹⁹ 

Zakharia 14:2-4

14:2 For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem ²⁰  to wage war; the city will be taken, its houses plundered, and the women raped. Then half of the city will go into exile, but the remainder of the people will not be taken away. ²¹ 

14:3 Then the Lord will go to battle ²²  and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days. ²³  14:4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward. ²⁴ 

Zakharia 14:6

14:6 On that day there will be no light – the sources of light in the heavens will congeal. ²⁵ 

Zakharia 14:8-9

14:8 Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, ²⁶  half of them to the eastern sea ²⁷  and half of them to the western sea; ²⁸  it will happen both in summer and in winter.

14:9 The Lord will then be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord will be seen as one with a single name. ²⁹ 

Zakharia 14:13

14:13 On that day there will be great confusion from the Lord among them; they will seize each other and attack one another violently.

[12:4]  ¹ tn Heb “every horse.”

[12:4]  ² tn Or “peoples” (so NAB, NRSV).

[12:6]  ³ sn On that day (referring to the day of the Lord) the Davidic monarchy will be restored and the Lord’s people will recognize once more the legitimacy and divine sanction of David’s dynasty. But there will also be a democratizing that will not give Jerusalem and its rulers undue priority over the people of the countryside (v. 7).

[12:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “a firepot” (so NASB, NIV); NRSV “a blazing pot”; NLT “a brazier.”

[12:8]  ⁵ sn The statement the dynasty of David will be like God is hyperbole to show the remarkable enhancements that will accompany the inauguration of the millennial age.

[12:9]  ⁶ tn Or “peoples.”

[12:11]  ⁷ tn “Hadad-Rimmon” is a compound of the names of two Canaanite deities, the gods of storm and thunder respectively. The grammar (a subjective genitive) allows, and the problem of comparing Israel’s grief at God’s “wounding” with pagan mourning seems to demand, that this be viewed as a place name, perhaps where Judah lamented the death of good king Josiah (cf. 2 Chr 35:25). However, some translations render this as “for” (NRSV, NCV, TEV, CEV), suggesting a person, while others translate as “of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NLT) which is ambiguous.

[12:11]  ⁸ map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.

[2:8]  ⁹ 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.

[2:8]  ¹⁰ 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”).

[2:8]  ¹¹ 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.

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “I will wave my hand over them” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “raise my hand against them.”

[10:4]  ¹³ sn On the NT use of the image of the cornerstone, see Luke 20:17; Eph 2:20; 1 Pet 2:6.

[10:4]  ¹⁴ sn The metaphor of the wall peg (Heb. יָתֵד, yated), together with the others in this list, describes the remarkable change that will take place at the inauguration of God’s eschatological kingdom. Israel, formerly sheep-like, will be turned into a mighty warhorse. The peg refers to a wall hook (although frequently translated “tent peg,” but cf. ASV “nail”; TWOT 1:419) from which tools and weapons were suspended, but figuratively also to the promise of God upon which all of Israel’s hopes were hung (cf. Isa 22:15-25; Ezra 9:8).

[10:4]  ¹⁵ tn This is not the usual word to describe a king of Israel or Judah (such as מֶלֶךְ, melekh, or נָשִׂיא, nasi’), but נוֹגֵשׂ, noges, “dictator” (cf. KJV “oppressor”). The author is asserting by this choice of wording that in the messianic age God’s rule will be by force.

[10:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and the riders on horses will be put to shame,” figurative for the defeat of mounted troops. The word “enemy” in the translation is supplied from context.

[13:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV), referring to dynastic descendants.

[13:1]  ¹⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[13:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for sin and for impurity.” The purpose implied here has been stated explicitly in the translation for clarity.

[13:1]  sn This reference to the fountain opened up…to cleanse them from sin and impurity is anticipatory of the cleansing from sin that lies at the heart of the NT gospel message (Rom 10:9-10; Titus 3:5). “In that day” throughout the passage (vv. 1, 2, 4) locates this cleansing in the eschatological (church) age (John 19:37).

[14:2]  ²⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[14:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “not be cut off from the city” (so NRSV); NAB “not be removed.”

[14:3]  ²² sn The statement the Lord will go to battle introduces the conflict known elsewhere as the “battle of Armageddon,” a battle in which the Lord delivers his people and establishes his millennial reign (cf. Joel 3:12, 15-16; Ezek 38–39; Rev 16:12-21; 19:19-21).

[14:3]  ²³ tn Heb “as he fights on a day of battle” (similar NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[14:4]  ²⁴ sn This seismic activity provides a means of escape from Jerusalem so that the Messiah (the Lord), whose feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, may destroy the wicked nations in the Kidron Valley (the v. of Jehoshaphat, or of “judgment of the Lord”) without harming the inhabitants of the city.

[14:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the splendid will congeal.” This difficult phrase (MT יְקָרוֹת יְקִפָּאוֹן, yÿqarot yÿqippa’on) is not clarified by the LXX which presupposes וְקָרוּת וְקִפָּאוֹן (vÿqarut vÿqippa’on, “and cold and ice,” a reading followed by NAB, NIV, NCV, NRSV, TEV). Besides the fact that cold and ice do not necessarily follow the absence of light, the idea here is that day will be night and night day. The heavenly sources of light “freeze up” as it were, and refuse to shine.

[14:8]  ²⁶ sn Living waters will flow out from Jerusalem. Ezekiel sees this same phenomenon in conjunction with the inauguration of the messianic age (Ezek 47; cf. Rev 22:1-5; also John 7:38).

[14:8]  ²⁷ sn The eastern sea is a reference to the Dead Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[14:8]  ²⁸ sn The western sea is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).

[14:9]  ²⁹ sn The expression the Lord will be seen as one with a single name is an unmistakable reference to the so-called Shema, the crystallized statement of faith in the Lord as the covenant God of Israel (cf. Deut 6:4-5). Zechariah, however, universalizes the extent of the Lord’s dominion – he will be “king over all the earth.”