Zech 1:3: šûbû ‘ēlây n’ěum YHWH
ṣěbā’ôt wě’āšûb ‘ălêkem “Return to me, says the Lord of Hosts, and I
will return to you.” As Grotius noted in the seventeenth century, there is a
play here on two different senses of the verb šûb: Est πλοκη [Copulatio]. Nap irius
illud converti est vitam mutare, alterum est pro irato beneficum redid. (“[This]
is [an example of the literary figure of] πλοκη [Joining]. For that first ‘return’
means ‘to change one’s life,’ the second means ‘to change from being angry to
favourable’”). We find a similar play on two senses of šûb in Zech 9:12,
šûbû . . . ‘āšîb “Return . . . I shall pay back.” . . . Zech 10:3 wě’al
hā’attûdîm ‘epqôd kî pāqad YHWH ṣěba’ôt ‘et ‘edrô “And I will punish
the leaders; for the Lord of hosts cares for his flock.” A striking
example of the use of the same verb (pāqad) in different (indeed
opposite) senses. (Al Wolters, “Word Play in Zechariah,” in Puns and Pundits:
Word Play in the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Literature, ed.
Scott B. Noegel [Bethesda, Md.: CDL Press, 2000], 223-24)
On Zech 1:3 and how it (and other texts) relates to the debate about free-will, see:
An Examination and Critique of the Theological Presuppositions Underlying Reformed Theology
