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Zechariah

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord,⁠ with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.⁠ 2 The Lord said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?”⁠ 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel. 4 The angel spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you in fine clothing.”⁠ 5 Then I spoke up, “Let a clean turban be put on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood nearby. 6 Then the angel of the Lord exhorted Joshua solemnly: 7 “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, ‘If you follow my ways and keep my requirements, you will be able to preside over my temple and attend to my courtyards, and I will allow you to come and go among these others who are standing by you. 8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch.⁠ 9 As for the stone I have set before Joshua—on the one stone there are seven eyes. I am about to engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘everyone will invite his friend to fellowship under his vine and under his fig tree.’”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Zechariah 3:8 and LXX Zechariah 3:8

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Zechariah refers to a figure called the “Branch,” interpreted as a messianic reference. The Greek Septuagint replaces this with “the Rising Sun,” a term from the Greek version of Jeremiah, a choice that may intentionally obscure that interpretation.

Passages

Zechariah 3:8

Hebrew Bible
8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch. 9 As for the stone I have set before Joshua—on the one stone there are seven eyes. I am about to engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

LXX Zechariah 3:8

Septuagint
7 Thus says the Lord Almighty; If you will walk in my ways, and take heed to my charges, then you will judge my house: and if you will diligently keep my court, then I will give you men to walk in the midst of these that stand here. 8 Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you, and your neighbors that are sitting before you: for they are diviners, for, look, I bring forth my servant The Rising Sun. 9 For as for the stone which I have set before the face of Joshua, on the one stone are seven eyes: look, I am digging a trench, says the Lord Almighty, and I will search out all the iniquity of that land in one day.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Zechariah

References

"... the Septuagint often makes it more difficult to recognize a reference to an eschatological messiah in such texts.” The term προσδοκία in Genesis 49:10 presupposes ('hope') instead of ('obedience'); the term ἀνατολή ('the rising of the sun') in Jeremiah 23:5–6 and Zechariah called to the mind the image of the rising sun ..."
Martin Meiser, The Septuagint and Its Reception: Collected Essays (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022), 106–107.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Zechariah 3:8 and LXX Zechariah 3:8

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