Zakharia 6:8

6:8 Then he cried out to me, “Look! The ones going to the northland have brought me ¹  peace about the northland.” ² 

Zakharia 8:14

8:14 “For the Lord who rules over all says, ‘As I had planned to hurt ³  you when your fathers made me angry,’ says the Lord who rules over all, ‘and I was not sorry,

Zakharia 11:11

11:11 So it was annulled that very day, and then the most afflicted of the flock who kept faith with me knew that that was the word of the Lord.

[6:8]  ¹ tn Heb “my spirit.” The subject appears to be the Lord who exclaims here that the horsemen have accomplished their task of bringing peace.

[6:8]  ² sn The immediate referent of peace about the northland is to the peace brought by Persia’s conquest of Babylonia, a peace that allowed the restoration of the Jewish people (cf. 2 Chr 36:22-23; Isa 44:28; 45:1-2). However, there is also an eschatological dimension, referring to a time when there will be perfect and universal peace.

[8:14]  ³ tn The verb זָמַם (zamam) usually means “to plot to do evil,” but with a divine subject (as here), and in light of v. 15 where it means to plan good, the meaning here has to be the implementation of discipline (cf. NCV, CEV “punish”). God may bring hurt but its purpose is redemptive and/or pedagogical.