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218 Structure and the Book of Zechariah
2. lam setting Jerusalem a cup of reeling
for all the peoples around (+. .. 7) 1
3. VCF Kinnnva rrm
/ will set Jerusalem a heavy burden
for all the peoples, all who carry it as a burden
will indeed be lacerated
and there will be gathered against her
all nations of the earth
4.
5. clans ofJudah. .. Yahweh hosts their God
6. CF Kinn ova
/ will set clans ofJudah as pot of fire among wood
and as torch of fire among sheaves
and will devour on right hand and left hand
all peoples around (+. .. ?) 2
It is obviously dangerous to build anything on the obscure sections
marked above. Note, however, that they contain references to Judah
(v. 2, cf. vv. 4, 5, 6) and Jerusalem (vv. 2, 6 [2x]). The resulting
structure is remarkably regular and intricate. We have not met anything
like it, in this respect, since Zechariah 1-8. We have to decide
how to regard this. It could represent a kind of inclusio: vv. 2-3 and
v. 6, indicated by D»to together with 'for all peoples rrao' (vv. 2, 6;
without D'DO in v. 3). Within this we should have pairs of important
words to carry forward the thought of the passage, ending with *]!*?&,
in vv. 5-6. Yet it is more likely that we have two parallel units:
vv. 2-5 I will set Jerusalem. . . for all nations around
vv. 6ff. I will set tribes ofJudah. .. for all nations around 3
1. NEB takes *]0, which normally means 'cup', to mean 'threshold', and
produces an ingenious translation: 'I am making the steep approaches to Jerusalem
slippery. ..' It is more likely that the well-established 'cup' imagery is correct, cf.
Isa. 51.17 (iron DID //nbnnn DID; sim. v. 22); Jer. 25.17, 28. There are no other
instances of *p used in this sense, although an emendation to Hab. 2.15 would produce
one more.
2. 'Jerusalem will dwell again/continually in its place in Jerusalem'. The second
occurrence of 'Jerusalem' is odd, and could be improved by reading 'in peace', but
there is no warrant for the change. It does not affect the structure.
3. See on 12.1-13.6 in Chapter 2 above. Rudolph, in common with several
scholars, treats the section differently: vv. 2a + 3a + 4a; then 4bcc + 5-6 + 8 + 7,
pp. 216-23. Similarly Lutz (Jahwe, Jerusalem und die Volker [Neukirchen-Vluyn: