Texts in Conversation
Zechariah reuses Isaiah’s description of God as the one who stretches out the heavens and establishes the earth, language characteristic of Isaiah’s later chapters. In Isaiah, it introduces the servant’s mission to bring justice and light. In Zechariah, it begins a new message about God’s power over creation and history.
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Isaiah 42:5
Hebrew Bible
3 A crushed reed he will not break, a dim wick he will not extinguish; he will faithfully make just decrees. 4 He will not grow dim or be crushed before establishing justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait in anticipation for his decrees.” 5 This is what the true God, the Lord, says—the one who created the sky and stretched it out, the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, the one who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who live on it: 6 “I, the Lord, officially commission you; I take hold of your hand. I protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people and a light to the nations, 7 to open blind eyes, to release prisoners from dungeons, those who live in darkness from prisons.
Date: 7th-5th Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Zechariah 12:1
Hebrew Bible
1 This is an oracle, the Lord’s message concerning Israel: The Lord—he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person—says, 2 “I am about to make Jerusalem a cup that brings dizziness to all the surrounding nations; indeed, Judah will also be included when Jerusalem is besieged. 3 Moreover, on that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy burden for all the nations, and all who try to carry it will be seriously injured; yet all the peoples of the earth will be assembled against it.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The phrase ('the one who stretches out the heavens and establishes the earth') occurs in Zechariah 12:1 and Isaiah 51:13, and nowhere else in the Old Testament. This terminology, however, is very typical of Deutero-Isaiah (compare Isaiah 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; 48:13; 51:16). There is thus no reason to think that Isaiah 51:13 is dependent on Zechariah 12:1, and not the other way around ..."
Nurmela, Risto
"The Growth of the Book of Isaiah Illustrated by Allusions in Zechariah" in Boda, Mark J., and Michael H. Floyd, (ed.) Bringing out the Treasure: Inner Biblical Allusion in Zechariah 9-14
(p. 256) Sheffield Academic Press, 2003
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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