Zechariah — Hebrew and Greek compared
Choose a chapter to explore the source readings and their notes. Original references, source labels, and review records are retained.
Source guide and review record
SAINTS TRANSLATION
Zechariah
V2 • Reviewed translation draft • Sep 11, 2026
Complete working translation draft, reviewed against the final reference. All 211 Hebrew units, 211 Greek units and 211 comparison notes were rechecked in their complete literary units, together with every registered reception passage. Targeted lexical, attribution and speech-punctuation corrections are synchronized with the liturgical reading text. No critical apparatus, manuscript collation, exhaustive reception survey or independent specialist approval is claimed. Unresolved readings remain listed below.
14 chapters • 211 translation rows
Reader’s guide
Read across each row to compare independent literal-smooth English renderings of the declared Hebrew and Greek texts. Rabbinic Priority and Saints Priority identify interpretive traditions, not alternate sources of biblical wording. Actual source references remain visible.
Both declared sources number chapter one with seventeen verses and chapter two with seventeen verses. Source 2:1–4 correspond to common English 1:18–21; source 2:5–17 correspond to common English 2:1–13. Other source chapter boundaries are retained as directly checked. Every source verse appears once in its own row.
Source basis and review scope
Hebrew: Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, fifth corrected edition (1997). Greek: Rahlfs–Hanhart Septuaginta, second revised edition (2006). Complete running texts were directly checked; the registered reception passages were consulted selectively. No unregistered critical-text reconstruction or reading tradition was substituted for the displayed source wording. The Hebrew reading at 4:2 follows the specifically registered Qere, as explained in that row and the editorial decisions.
Same: corresponding meaning. Similar: modest expression or emphasis difference. Different: meaningful specific detail. Divergent: addition, omission, or rearrangement. Disparate: major difference in meaning or consequence. Each row uses one governing category under the updated project reference.
Sources, method and decisions
Source register
[BHS1] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 1, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS2] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 2, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS3] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 3, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS4] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 4, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS5] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 5, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS6] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 6, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS7] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 7, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS8] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 8, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS9] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 9, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS10] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 10, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS11] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 11, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS12] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 12, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS13] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 13, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BHS14] Karl Elliger and Wilhelm Rudolph, eds., Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia; fifth corrected edition prepared by Adrian Schenker (1997), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 14, complete chapter. Access: Direct Hebrew main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX1] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 1, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX2] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 2, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX3] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 3, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX4] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 4, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX5] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 5, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX6] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 6, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX7] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 7, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX8] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 8, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX9] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 9, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX10] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 10, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX11] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 11, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX12] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 12, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX13] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 13, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[LXX14] Alfred Rahlfs, Septuaginta; second revised edition prepared by Robert Hanhart (2006), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Zechariah 14, complete chapter. Access: Direct Greek main text. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[RASHI-ZEC1] Rashi, Commentary on Zechariah 1; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 1:8. Access: Direct reading of displayed Hebrew and English commentary; biblical English translation not used as a base; quoted Targum and Talmud not separately collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[RASHI-ZEC3] Rashi, Commentary on Zechariah 3; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 3:1–9, selectively cited at 3:3,5,8–9. Access: Direct reading of displayed Hebrew and English commentary; biblical English translation not used as a base; quoted Targum and Talmud not separately collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[RASHI-ZEC4] Rashi, Commentary on Zechariah 4; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 4:2,6–7,10,12,14; displayed written/read form at 4:2. Access: Direct reading of displayed Hebrew and English commentary; biblical English translation not used as a base; quoted Targum and Talmud not separately collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[RASHI-ZEC9] Rashi, Commentary on Zechariah 9; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 9:9–11. Access: Direct reading of displayed Hebrew and English commentary; biblical English translation not used as a base; quoted Targum and Talmud not separately collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[RASHI-ZEC11] Rashi, Commentary on Zechariah 11; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 11:7–8 only. Access: Direct reading of displayed Hebrew and English commentary; biblical English translation not used as a base; quoted Targum and Talmud not separately collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[RASHI-ZEC12] Rashi, Commentary on Zechariah 12; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 12:7–12, selectively cited at 12:8,10–11. Access: Direct reading of displayed Hebrew and English commentary; biblical English translation not used as a base; quoted Targum and Talmud not separately collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[RASHI-ZEC14] Rashi, Commentary on Zechariah 14; Chabad.org bilingual presentation. Scope: Commentary on 14:4–10; displayed written/read form at 14:6. Access: Direct reading of displayed Hebrew and English commentary; biblical English translation not used as a base; quoted Targum and Talmud not separately collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[AUG-ZEC] Augustine of Hippo, City of God XX.30; Marcus Dods translation in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 2 (1887), New Advent transcription. Scope: XX.30, discussion of Zechariah’s sent speaker and the Hebrew piercing/Greek insult distinction. Access: Direct English translation of patristic reception; Latin not collated. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[NT-MAT26] Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, twenty-eighth revised edition (2012), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Matthew 26:14–16 and 26:30–32; shepherd citation used in the note. Access: Direct Greek New Testament reception passage; no textual apparatus or manuscript collation. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[NT-MAT27] Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, twenty-eighth revised edition (2012), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Matthew 27:3–10, thirty silver pieces, potter’s field and attribution to Jeremiah. Access: Direct Greek New Testament reception passage; no textual apparatus or manuscript collation. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[NT-JHN19] Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, twenty-eighth revised edition (2012), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: John 19:31–37, pierced side and scriptural citation. Access: Direct Greek New Testament reception passage; no textual apparatus or manuscript collation. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[NT-REV11] Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, twenty-eighth revised edition (2012), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Revelation 11:3–6, two witnesses, olive trees and lampstands. Access: Direct Greek New Testament reception passage; no textual apparatus or manuscript collation. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[NT-JHN12] Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, twenty-eighth revised edition (2012), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: John 12:14–16, Jesus’ arrival on a donkey’s colt. Access: Direct Greek New Testament reception passage; no textual apparatus or manuscript collation. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[NT-JUD1] Nestle–Aland, Novum Testamentum Graece, twenty-eighth revised edition (2012), German Bible Society official online main text. Scope: Jude 1:8–10, Michael and the Lord-rebuke formula. Access: Direct Greek New Testament reception passage; no textual apparatus or manuscript collation. Checked Sep 11, 2026.
[BDB-BETULAH] Brown, Driver and Briggs, Hebrew and English Lexicon, entry bethulah (H1330), Bible Hub transcription. Scope: the BDB entry’s explicit Zechariah 9:17 example and plural noun; modern topical material not used. Access: reproduced BDB entry, checked on the review date above.
Key terms
יהוה / κύριος; צבאות / παντοκράτωρ — YHWH / Lord; hosts / Almighty. Preserve the displayed divine name and titles; Greek expansions and omissions remain visible.
שרקים / ψαροί, ποικίλοι — tawny / gray, dappled. 1:8: Hebrew color remains uncertain, as Rashi also acknowledges; Greek’s four-color list is not reduced to three.
השטן / διάβολος — the accuser / the slanderer. 3:1–2: retain the adversarial roles without adding a later biography or the name Michael.
צמח / ἀνατολή — Shoot / Rising. 3:8; 6:12: botanical growth and rising imagery remain distinct; Rashi’s Zerubbabel reading is attributed in the note.
מגלה / δρέπανον — scroll / sickle. 5:1–2: the different flying object and its identical dimensions are both retained.
איפה / μέτρον — ephah / measure. 5:6–10: the Hebrew unit is retained without an unsupported modern capacity conversion.
חלדי, טוביה, ידעיה, חן / Greek descriptive expressions — Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, Hen / rulers, useful people, those who know, favor. 6:10,14: descriptive Greek renderings are not silently returned to Hebrew personal names; Helem differs from Heldai in Hebrew.
נושע / σῴζων — delivered / saving. 9:9: the Hebrew passive and Greek active are retained, with Rashi and John’s reception separately identified.
נעם, חבלים / κάλλος, σχοίνισμα — Pleasantness, Bonds / Beauty, Measuring Cord. 11:7–14: preserve the staffs’ different labels and the brotherhood/possession contrast.
היוצר / χωνευτήριον — the potter / the smelting furnace. 11:13: no treasury emendation is adopted and Matthew’s later quotation does not replace either source.
דקרו / κατωρχήσαντο — pierced / danced in mockery. 12:10: the action differs; the Me/him shift remains visible in each column.
ונסתם / ἐμφραχθήσεται — you will flee / will be blocked. 14:5: retain opposed escape and blockage readings; Rashi’s reported Targum interpretation is secondary reception.
יקרות יקפאון — the precious lights will congeal. 14:6: provisional written-form rendering; lights is supplied contextually. The directly checked alternate Qere and Rashi’s interpretation are noted.
סכות / σκηνοπηγία — Booths / Tent-Pitching. 14:16–19: corresponding festival with the sources’ respective dwelling imagery.
כנעני / Χαναναῖος — Canaanite / Canaanite. 14:21: Hebrew can also denote a merchant; the ethnic wording is retained provisionally without settling the referent.
Editorial decisions
Independently translated every verse of the complete directly read BHS and Rahlfs–Hanhart running texts. The declared edition metadata was checked on the publisher’s pages. No modern English Bible supplied either column.
Preserved all fourteen source chapter boundaries and two hundred eleven verses in each column, including the source chapter-two division that differs from common English numbering.
At 4:2 alone, I said follows the explicitly displayed Qere in the registered bilingual Rashi source rather than the written he said. At 14:6 the written form is retained provisionally, with its displayed Qere recorded in the note. These are specific checked reading decisions, not a claim to having consulted a critical apparatus.
Retained the differing objects, agents, pronouns, time references, negations, repetitions and geographic descriptions, including myrtles/mountains, scroll/sickle, potter/furnace and fleeing/blockage.
Did not identify every angel or speaker as a later named person. Retained Joshua for the high priest and distinguished source wording from Rashi’s Zerubbabel interpretation and subsequent Christian readings.
Preserved the hard Greek constructions in 2:4, 4:7, 6:10–14, 11:11 and 14:10 without reconstructing them from Hebrew. Their uncertain syntax is recorded for specialist review.
Kept Hebrew first-person and Greek third-person dwelling subjects distinct at 2:15 and 8:8, singular and plural shepherds distinct at 13:7, and the opposite garment negation at 13:4.
Retained no explicit coin denomination at 11:12–13; thirty in silver and thirty silver pieces do not by themselves justify supplying shekels. Ancient dimensions and quantities are spelled out without speculative modern conversions.
Reception notes are selective and attributed. Rashi’s cited Targum and Talmud are known here through that checked commentary, not through direct collation of those works. Augustine was read in the registered English translation, not checked against Latin.
Greek New Testament passages were read directly only within the registered scope. John’s donkey-entry quotation, Matthew’s explicit Jeremiah attribution, and Revelation’s two lampstands are preserved as their own reception features.
Classifications concern the declared source pair at the aligned verse level. A Disparate label identifies an explained substantial shift of meaning or consequence, not a claim about which tradition is authentic or superior.
The complete running draft and English notes received an editorial pass. No manuscript, critical apparatus, alternative Greek recension, exhaustive commentary survey or independent specialist review is claimed.
Source chapter and verse references remain visible throughout.
Open questions
Zechariah 1:8 and 2:4: the Hebrew horse color, Greek shaded mountains and the difficult Greek sharpen-them-for-their-hands clause need specialist lexical and syntactic review.
Zechariah 2:12–15: examine after glory, the his-eye referent and changing divine/commissioned speaker without prematurely fixing their identities.
Zechariah 3:7–9 and 4:7,10,12: review paths versus moving persons, the stone’s engraving versus pit-digging, the Greek inheritance/equality phrase, seven eyes and the olive apparatus.
Zechariah 5:3,6–8: review Hebrew niqqah, the side/from-here expression, their-eye/appearance and the opening/mouth pronouns. The stated physical objects remain source-specific.
Zechariah 6:10–14: the Greek descriptive names, singular arrival, referent of its, two offices and final favor/psalm wording remain difficult. Hebrew’s priest and throne relation is not conclusively resolved.
Zechariah 7:2–3 and 8:6,10,17,21–23: review the Greek named senders, holy offering, impossible-question force, retrospective future verbs, resentment construction and five-city assembly.
Zechariah 9:1,9–17: examine human/divine watching, nosha, geographic limits, emphatic pronouns, sling-stone grammar and the concluding grain/wine imagery without harmonizing the versions.
Zechariah 10:4,11 and 11:7,11,16: determine the referents of from-him and the looked/appointed verbs, the passage through distress, the Canaanite guarded-sheep apposition and Hebrew young/standing sheep.
Zechariah 12:2–3,8,10–13: review cup versus entrances, the Greek mocking middle, house comparisons, the pierced-figure syntax and the mourning names. Later reception does not alone settle the original referents.
Zechariah 13:1,4–7: examine every-place versus cleansing-spring, the opposite garment clauses, acquired/begot, wounds between the hands and companion/fellow-citizen while retaining both readings.
Zechariah 14:4–6,10,14,17–18,21: specialist review is needed for spatial sequence, blocked/fleeing valley, light/ice and the written/read forms, the encircling participle, Judah in/against Jerusalem, the Greek added-to-those clause, Egypt’s rain ellipsis and Canaanite/merchant.
These are complete working renderings of the accessed sources, with unresolved points identified. Independent Hebrew and Septuagint specialists should review them before an authoritative or liturgical edition is claimed.
Classification totals
Different: 78 • Disparate: 33 • Divergent: 11 • Same: 49 • Similar: 40
Disparate index
1:6; 2:4; 2:10; 2:15; 3:9; 4:7; 6:10; 6:13; 6:14; 7:2; 7:3; 8:8; 9:1; 9:9; 9:10; 9:11; 9:12; 10:2; 10:4; 11:7; 11:11; 11:13; 11:14; 12:3; 12:8; 12:10; 12:11; 13:1; 13:3; 13:4; 13:7; 14:5; 14:10