ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

Zechariah 2.8-11

Book: Zechariah · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

6. Ho, ho, flee from the land of the north, saith Jehovah; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, saith Jehovah. 7. Ho Zion, escape, thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.

8. For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. 9. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall be a spoil to those that served them; and ye shall know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me. 10. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith Jehovah. 11. And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts has sent me unto thee.

  1. And Jehovah shall inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. 13. Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah; for he is waked up out of his holy habitation. (Zechariah 2:6-13, ASV)
WEB

6. Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh. 7. ‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’

8. For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. 9. For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me. 10. Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. 11. Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.

  1. Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 13. Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!” (Zechariah 2:6-13, WEB)
KJV

6. Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD. 7. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.

8. For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye. 9. For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me. 10. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD. 11. And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee, and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto thee.

  1. And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose Jerusalem again. 13. Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. his: Heb. the habitation of his holiness (Zechariah 2:6-13, KJV)
YLT

6. Ho, ho, and flee from the land of the north, An affirmation of Jehovah, For, as the four winds of the heavens, I have spread you abroad, An affirmation of Jehovah. 7. Ho, Zion, be delivered who art dwelling [with] the daughter of Babylon.

8. For thus said Jehovah of Hosts: After honour He hath sent me unto the nations who are spoiling you, For he who is coming against you, Is coming against the daughter of His eye. 9. For lo, I am waving my hand against them, And they have been a spoil to their servants. And ye have known that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me. 10. Singe, and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, For lo, I am coming, and have dwelt in thy midst, An affirmation of Jehovah. 11. And joined have been many nations unto Jehovah in that day, And they have been to Me for a people, And I have dwelt in thy midst, And thou hast known that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me unto thee.

  1. And Jehovah hath inherited Judah, His portion on the holy ground, And He hath fixed again on Jerusalem. 13. Hush, all flesh, because of Jehovah, For He hath been roused up from His holy habitation!' (Zechariah 2:6-13, YLT)

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Setting

  • Speaker: Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo (1:1), a prophet of priestly descent
  • Audience: the returned Judean community in Jerusalem, under Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest
  • Location: Jerusalem, in the Persian province of Yehud
  • Time period: the night visions are dated to the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the second year of Darius I, early 519 BC

Theological reading

"For thus saith Jehovah of hosts: After glory hath he sent me unto the nations which plundered you; for he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye... And many nations shall join themselves to Jehovah in that day, and shall be my people."

Two movements sit inside one oracle, and holding them together is the interpretive task.

The first is protective. "The apple of his eye" renders a Hebrew idiom for the pupil, the most instinctively guarded part of the body; the same figure is used of Israel at Deuteronomy 32:10 and of the individual at Psalm 17:8. To touch the exiles is to touch that. The image sets the community's smallness inside God's sensitivity rather than his indifference: a people too weak to defend themselves is being told that harm to them registers where it cannot be ignored.

The second is expansive, and it complicates any purely defensive reading. The nations that plundered Judah are the object of judgment in v. 9, and in v. 11 many nations join themselves to the LORD and become his people, using covenant language that had belonged to Israel alone. The oracle therefore has judgment and ingathering running toward the same nations, which is the pattern of Isaiah 19:23-25 and of Zechariah's own 8:20-23 and 14:16.

The result is a vision of a Jerusalem too large for walls (2:4-5), whose defense is not masonry but the presence of God as a wall of fire, and whose population is not limited to the returnees.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

  • ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
  • WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
  • KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
  • YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.