1. the Adversary. This is the satan (note the definitive article, indicating someone filling a role rather than a proper name), not to be confused with the later mythological Satan. In Job, this translation renders the term as “the Adversary,” but “accuser” would also work here to pick up the link with the cognate verb at the end of this sentence. The Accuser, a kind of prosecuting attorney who belongs to the divine entourage (“the sons of God” in Job), carries out the task of calling attention to the sundry trespasses of the people, but now he is rebuked because God is ready to remove the guilt of the people.

3. foul. The Hebrew word is associated with excrement. It is not that the high priest is personally culpable, but as chief sacerdotal officiant for the people, the residue of all their heinous acts clings to him.

4. all those standing before him. The idiom means “standing in attendance.”

5. fit garments. “Fit” is merely implied in the Hebrew, but that must be the sense.

7. if you oversee My house and also guard My courts. This injunction to see to the maintenance of the Temple anticipates its rebuilding, which at this moment has just begun.

I will let you come and go among these attendants. This is an extraordinary promise because the attendants are divine beings.

8. men who have had a portent. The literal sense is “men of a portent.” But it is hard to see how Joshua’s priestly colleagues could be the portent, as they are represented in most translations. The rendering here follows the Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 93A, which says “for whom a portent was performed.” Perhaps they have witnessed Joshua’s change from foul garments to fine raiment, which would be the portent.

My servant, Branch. The Hebrew term for “Branch,” tsemaḥ, has clear dynastic associations. There is a debate among interpreters as to whether this refers to an eschatological Davidic ruler or to Zerubbabel, but the latter seems more likely because the grand restoration appears to be imminent. Political considerations may have led Zechariah to suppress his name.

9. seven eyes. These will recur in a different context in chapter 4.

wipe away. The verbal stem m-w-sh indicates “removal,” but it does not appear elsewhere in this conjugation as a transitive verb. The Hebrew mashti could be a mistake for maḥiti, the verb usually employed for the expunging of guilt.

10. to come under the vine. “Come” is supplied in the translation for idiomatic coherence in English. Sitting under the vine and under the fig tree is a proverbial expression for a time of peace and prosperity. Only later would it take on an eschatological meaning, as in the mention of Jesus sitting under the fig tree in the first chapter of John’s gospel.