Zakharia 1:6

1:6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? ¹  Then they paid attention ²  and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

Zakharia 1:21

1:21 I asked, “What are these going to do?” He answered, “These horns are the ones that have scattered Judah so that there is no one to be seen. ³  But the blacksmiths have come to terrify Judah’s enemies ⁴  and cut off the horns of the nations that have thrust themselves against the land of Judah in order to scatter its people.” ⁵ 

Zakharia 8:14

8:14 “For the Lord who rules over all says, ‘As I had planned to hurt ⁶  you when your fathers made me angry,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘and I was not sorry,

[1:6]  ¹ tc BHS suggests אֶתְכֶם (’etkhem, “you”) for the MT אֲבֹתֵיכֶם (’avotekhem, “your fathers”) to harmonize with v. 4. In v. 4 the ancestors would not turn but in v. 6 they appear to have done so. The subject in v. 6, however, is to be construed as Zechariah’s own listeners.

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “they turned” (so ASV). Many English versions have “they repented” here; cf. CEV “they turned back to me.”

[1:21]  ³ tn Heb “so that no man lifts up his head.”

[1:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “terrify them”; the referent (Judah’s enemies) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “to scatter it.” The word “people” has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[8:14]  ⁶ 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.