NRSV

[6] On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot on a pile of wood, like a flaming torch among the sheaves; and they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem.

[7] And the LORD will give victory to the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem may not be exalted over that of Judah. [8] On that day the LORD will shield the inhabitants of Jerusalem so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, at their head. [9] And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. 

LXX

[6] On that day I shall place the ruler of a thousand of Judah as a burning firebrand in the firewood, as a burning torch in the straw, and they shall consume, from right to left, all the peoples encircling, and Jerusalem shall be inhabited then by itself. [7] And the Lord shall save the dwellings of Judah just as from the beginning, in order that the boast shall not be exalted over the house of David and the elation of the inhabitants of Jerusalem against Judah.  [8] And it shall be on this day that the Lord shall shield on behalf of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And the sickly in them shall be on this day as the house of David, but the house of David shall be as the house of God, as an angel of the Lord before them. [9] And it shall be on this day that I shall seek to remove all the nations who attack against Jerusalem.

Notes on Text

Verse 6 contains a beautiful set of metaphors whereby Judah is like a torch in the sheaves and burns up everyone around them.  Following on the previous passage, what is possibly being described here is that the prophet is distinguishing between the fidelity of an elect Jerusalem and an unfaithful Judah, which upon seeing God’s defense of a besieged Jerusalem notes its faith. The metaphor of the spreading fire possibly indicates this recognition spreading among the surrounding peoples, or it is possibly a more straightforward promise to actually consume the neighbors with fire.  The LXX text hints at this latter possibility in vv. 7 with the phrasing “shall save the dwellings of Judah just as from the beginning,” whereas in the NRSV text Judah is instead promised victory.  

There is an interesting competition between Jerusalem and Judah, in the sense that both textual traditions take care to promise that Judah will not be eclipsed by Jerusalem. The passage then states that the weakest inhabitant of Jerusalem shall be like David and Judah will be like God, like an angel of God!  This last claim in particular is quite grandiose, and I wonder a great deal about the historical context in which it was felt to be necessary to make, particularly since they overall message of the passage is a fairly bog-standard promise that God will defend Jerusalem against all attackers at some utopian point in the future.  Obviously we have seen this promise made in several places with more modesty.

As a final note, and here I should freely admit that this is an area that I’ve noted for further investigation, David Bentley Hart notes at several points in his translation of the New Testament that in the ancient world, it was widely accepted that in addition to God, there was a layer (or several layers) of subordinate supernatural beings who played non-trivial roles in ordering the mundane world.  Hart brings this up several times in the context of Paul’s letters, and it is unclear to me whether this belief system extended as far back as, for example, the immediate return from the Babylonian exile, but I am tentatively inclined to believe that the claim actually being made in vv. 8 is that the house of Judah will be elevated into this intermediate status. My reason for this is the pairing in NRSV of “like God, like an angel of the LORD” and in LXX “as the house of God, as an angel of the Lord before them.” It is also clearly the case through large parts of the Hebrew Bible that God’s power is explicitly modeled on, compared to, and ultimately described as superior to the power of worldly emperors (who of necessity had subordinate governors) and so it makes intuitive sense that God would be view as having what are essentially supernatural governors as well.