Text

[11] As for you, because of the blood of my covenant with you,

And you in the blood of the covenant you send out your prisoners

I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

From a pit that does not have water.

[12] Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope;

You shall sit in a stronghold, prisoners of the gathering [συναγωγῆς synagōgēs]

Today I declare that I will restore to you double

And in the place of one day of your residence as a noncitizen, I shall return to you double

[13] For I have bent Judah as my bow;

Since I have stretched you tight, Judah, my bow,

I have made Ephraim its arrow.

I have filled Ephraim and aroused you children, Zion,

I will arouse your sons, O Zion,

Against your sons, O Greece,

Against the children of the Greeks,

And wield you like a warrior’s sword.

And I shall handle you as the sword of a warrior.

Notes on Text

 The LXX text of verses 11-12 quite explicitly talks about the end of a Hebrew diaspora.  In verse 11 the key difference between the Greek and Hebrew text seems to be a difference in who it is who will set the prisoners free, with the Hebrew text asserting that it is God who does so, and the LXX asserting that the ones in the blood of the covenant will send out their prisoners.  In the LXX, it makes sense to read “your prisoners” as “prisoners from among the ones who are in the blood of the covenant” rather than “prisoners held by the ones who are in the blood of the covenant but who are not in the blood of the covenant.” 

In verse 12, these prisoners are described as “prisoners of the συναγωγῆς synagōgēs” a word that is derived from the verb which means “to gather,” and which could mean “gathering” but also could literally be translated as “synagogue.” Here, the implication seems to be that the synagogue is a prison, as compared to the restored temple, and the restoration of God’s kingdom in Israel (and the restoration of the temple) will free the ones in the blood of the covenant from the prison of Diaspora. Verse 12 then proceeds to say that God will pay back two days for each day the ones in the blood of the covenant were παροικεσίας paroikesias, a word which most literally mean “dwelling besides” but which refers to a foreigner living as someone’s neighbor, or a resident alien.  

These same verses in the Hebrew as translated by the NRSV are much less explicitly tied to a return from Diaspora. Instead there is the sense that because of the blood of the covenant, the faithful will receive a reprieve from a somewhat generic misfortune and be repaid double for their unspecified losses. 

Both versions, however, are unified in their treatment of Greeks in verse 13, with Judah and Ephraim being wielded by God like weapons and the children of Zion being aroused against the children of Greece. This division is interesting, particularly contrasted with the treatment of Gentiles in Zechariah 9:1-7, wherein Gentiles are conquered by God and incorporated into the people of God’s kingdom.  In verse 13, on the other hand, the Greeks seem to be excluded from this possibility.  

There are a few possibilities for why this might be.  Perhaps the most basic explanation would be that for the authors of the Hebrew Bible, the peoples living within the ideal geographic boundaries of a unified kingdom of Israel were viewed as more closely related than the Greeks, and thus more capable of conversion to godliness.  Here it is helpful to remember that particularly in Genesis, the people neighboring the ancient Israelites were described as descended from Ishmael, Lot, etc., and so for ancient authors it might make sense for God’s covenant to subsequently be extended to people they viewed as their close relatives.  

Another possible explanation, which would require that at least verse 13 was composed during the Hellenistic Era (323-31 BCE), is that there is a unified treatment of Gentile people through verses 1-13, in which the rise of God’s sovereignty causes the overthrow of worldly rulers, wherein the king of Gaza shall perish but their subject peoples are incorporated into God’s kingdom.  During the Hellenistic Era, a Greek aristocracy ruled over most of the lands surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, and so in if our understanding is that Zechariah 9 is unified in its treatment of worldly rulers, the Greeks here would be overthrown because they are rulers rather than because they are Gentiles.