His glory/ or its goodness Zechariah 9:17

[jeclark71]

Hey guys I was reading through Zechariah 9 and came to verse 17 in my NKJV, which reads "For how great is its goodness And how great its beauty!" Then when I went back to my ESV to follow up I notice something different "For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!" I had assumed that the NKJV drew a line back to the land and the ESV and KJV seem to draw back to God. Interesting enough the MKJV falls in line with the NKJV. Any way was just wondering if anyone had an insight to which translation best reads the text?

 

[iainduguid]

Hey guys I was reading through Zechariah 9 and came to verse 17 in my NKJV, which reads "For how great is its goodness And how great its beauty!" Then when I went back to my ESV to follow up I notice something different "For how great is his goodness, and how great his beauty!" I had assumed that the NKJV drew a line back to the land and the ESV and KJV seem to draw back to God. Interesting enough the MKJV falls in line with the NKJV. Any way was just wondering if anyone had an insight to which translation best reads the text?

It is not an easy translational decision, which is why modern versions are almost evenly split; grammatically, the most obvious antecedent of the masculine singular pronoun (Hebrew has no neuter, of course) would be the Lord, as is clear from looking at the previous verse. In fact, one would expect that if land (adamah) is the antecedent, the pronoun would be feminine, as in Jer 27:11. However, I couldn't find anywhere else in the OT where the attribute of beauty (yephi) is unmistakably ascribed to God (Ps 27 uses a different Hebrew word), while it is a common descriptor of women and cities (including Jerusalem). What is more, in the preceding sentence it is the restored people who shine like crown jewels. So both translations can be defended.

Perhaps the ambiguity is the point: the Lord's goodness and beauty are reflected in the promised renewal and restoration of the land to a state of goodness and beauty, which are the fruits of covenantal blessing in place of the curse they were presently experiencing.

 

[jeclark71]

Thank you for your insight brother very helpful and good word about the ambiguity of the passage. I agree God beauty is found in His faithfulness and mercy. This has given me something to dig a little deeper.