I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle: The Hebrew text has a first person verb, which Revised Standard Version translates I will gather, and it has to be understood that the speaker is the LORD. This is a change of person from the third person references to the LORD in verses 1 and 3, but such changes are common in Hebrew. Some scholars believe the text should be changed to say “the LORD will gather,” but of available English versions, only Jerusalem Bible represents this view, and New Jerusalem Bible has gone back to the traditional text. Good News Translation also has “The LORD” rather than “I,” and Contemporary English Version has “he,” but this is a translational adjustment and not based on a change in the text. Meyers & Meyers suggest that the abruptness of the change of person is reduced if the second half of verse 1 and the first part of verse 2 are taken together as a single unit. They propose “Your spoil will be divided in your midst, (2) for I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem, for war.”

All the nations against Jerusalem to battle is a picture of a multinational army assembling to attack Jerusalem. It probably draws its inspiration from Ezek 38. For all the nations, see 12.9.

The city shall be taken: In contrast with 12.1-9, the picture here is of Jerusalem falling into enemy hands before the LORD finally intervenes on behalf of his people.

The consequences of the capture of the city are the normal ones in ancient warfare (and by no means unknown today): the houses will be plundered and the women ravished (compare Isa 13.16). Other terms for plundered include “looted” (Good News Translation, New Revised Standard Version), “ransacked” (New International Version, Revised English Bible), “rifled” (King James Version, Revised Version, Moffatt), and “robbed” (Contemporary English Version). Ravished is a rather old-fashioned sounding word. The more common modern term is “raped” (New English Bible/ Revised English Bible, New Revised Standard Version, Good News Translation, New International Version, Beck, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation) and the meaning is to compel a woman to have sexual intercourse against her will. In some languages however, such a blunt descriptive term may sound inappropriate and translators may prefer to use a euphemism. The only modern English version to use one is New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh, which has “violated.” Other languages may use a term such as “shamed” or “disgraced” (Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch), or an idiom such as “cause them to go bad.” Some translators will need to express the verbs plundered and ravished as active forms, and say, “the enemy will capture the city, plunder the houses and rape the women.”

Half of the city shall go into exile: The city stands of course for its inhabitants, so Good News Translation translates “Half of the people” (also Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente). Exile means compulsory removal to a foreign country, and in some languages it will be necessary to state this; for example, translators could say “Half of the people in the city will be taken away into captivity” (similarly New Living Translation) or “The enemy soldiers will take half of the people away to foreign countries.”

But the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city: The other half of the population will remain. Cut off is a common Hebrew metaphor (usually meaning “kill” or “destroy”; compare 13.8) and a variety of equivalent metaphors is found in English versions, such as “wiped out” (New English Bible), “uprooted” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), and “ejected” (New Jerusalem Bible). Others express the meaning in nonfigurative language, such as “taken away/from” (Good News Translation, New International Version, Revised English Bible). It is better to use a metaphor if a suitable one is available. It is also possible to express the meaning of the clause as a whole from a positive point of view, such as “… will be able to remain in the city” (“… allowed to remain” in Contemporary English Version; similarly Bible en français courant, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch) or “… will be left in the city” (Parola Del Signore: La Bibbia in Lingua Corrente).

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .