Zechariah
Chapter 4

4

Then I said to the angel who spoke with me, "What are these things, my lord?"

5

And the angel who spoke with me replied, "Do you not know what these things are?" "No, my lord," I answered.

6

Then he said to me, "This is the LORD'S message to Zerubbabel: Not by an army, nor by might, but by my spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

7

¹ What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are but a plain. He shall bring out the capstone amid exclamations of 'Hail, Hail' to it."

8

This word of the LORD then came to me:

9

The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this house, and his hands shall finish it; then you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.

10

For even they who were scornful on that day of small beginnings shall rejoice to see the select stone in the hands of Zerubbabel. These seven facets are the eyes of the LORD that range over the whole earth.

1

Then the angel who spoke with me returned and awakened me, like a man awakened from his sleep.

2

"What do you see?" he asked me. "I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl at the top," I replied; "on it are seven lamps with their tubes,

3

and beside it are two olive trees, one on the right and the other on the left."

11

I then asked him, "What are these two olive trees at each side of the lampstand?"

12

And again I asked, "What are the two olive tufts which freely pour out fresh oil through the two golden channels?"

13

"Do you not know what these are?" he said to me. "No, my lord," I answered him.

14

He said, "These are the two anointed ² who stand by the LORD of the whole earth."

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Footnotes

¹ [7] Great mountain: figure of the obstacles confronting Zerubbabel in building the temple. A plain: figure of the ease with which he will overcome these obstacles.

² [14] The two anointed: literally, "the two sons of oil," Joshua, the anointed high priest, and Zerubbabel, the anointed prince. Just as the two olive trees in this imagery supply the sacred seven-branched lampstand (Exodus 25:31-40) with oil (Zechariah 4:12), so these two men, in ministering to the community, stand by (serve) the Lord.

New American Bible Copyright © 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. All rights reserved. Neither this work nor any part of it may be reproduced, distributed, performed or displayed in any medium, including electronic or digital, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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