The Prophet Zechariah
⭑ Catholic Public Domain Version 2009 ⭑
- Chapter 1 -
(Jeremiah 3:11–25; Hosea 14:1–3)
1
2
3
4
5
6
The Vision of the Horses
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
The Vision of the Horns and the Craftsmen
18
19
20
21
Footnotes
(a)1:2 The cases of the words ‘patres vestros iracundia’ do not match the cases of the corresponding words in translation because English grammar expresses this meaning in a different way. In English, ‘of your fathers’ would seen to be a translation of the genitive case, but in Latin the fathers are the object of the verb referring to anger, so the case is accusative.(Conte)
(b)1:6 The word ‘legitima’ refers to ‘lawful authority’ or ‘lawfulness.’ Notice that in Latin, the word ‘numquid’ is used, making this verse a kind of rhetorical question. But the translation uses ‘indeed’ to indicate the same meaning, without forming a question, because a rhetorical question would not be fitting in the English of this verse.(Conte)
(c)1:8 The phrase ‘in profundo’ has the word ‘profundo’ as a nouns, referring to the abyss, or the depths, or the chasm. In other words, they were not on the earth, but were in an other-worldly place, waiting.(Conte)
(d)1:8 Notice that these are the same as the four horses in the Book of Revelation.(Conte)
(e)1:8
A man: An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably Michael, the guardian angel of the church of God.(Challoner)
(f)1:9 The word ‘lord’ is not capitalized because the prophet was speaking to the Angel, and then he said to the Angel, ‘my lord.’ He was not addressing God directly.(Conte)
(g)1:10
These are they, etc: The guardian angels of provinces and nations.(Challoner)
(h)1:12
The seventieth year: Viz., from the beginning of the seige of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and ended in the first year of king Cyrus.(Challoner)
(i)1:18
Four horns: The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.(Challoner)
(j)1:20
Four smiths: The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber may signify either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to nothing the power of persecutors.(Challoner)
(k)1:21 The four horns are the four kingdoms into which the great monarch’s kingdom will be divided. These four are less holy than the great monarch’s kingdom, and they begin a continual decrease in holiness and wisdom, and a continual increase in sin and deceit, that finally, hundreds of years later, results in the kingdom of the Antichrist (the horn lifted over Judah).(Conte)