Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Zechariah has visions and his angel relates their meaning. God promises to return to Jerusalem.
II. Photo
Zechariah has a vision: “I looked up, and I saw a man holding a measuring line. ‘Where are you going?’ I asked. ‘To measure Jerusalem,’ he replied, ‘to see how long and wide it is to be.’” (vv. 5-6)
III. Selected Verses
1-4: I looked up, and I saw four horns. I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are those?” “Those,” he replied, “are the horns that tossed Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” Then the LORD showed me four smiths. “What are they coming to do?” I asked. He replied: “Those are the horns that tossed Judah, so that no man could raise his head; and these men have come to throw them into a panic, to hew down the horns of the nations that raise a horn against the land of Judah, to toss it.”
11-12: Away, escape, O Zion, you who dwell in Fair Babylon! For thus said the LORD of Hosts — He who sent me after glory — concerning the nations that have taken you as spoil: “Whoever touches you touches the pupil of his own eye.
14: Shout for joy, Fair Zion! For lo, I come; and I will dwell in your midst — declares the LORD.
16: The LORD will take Judah to Himself as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will choose Jerusalem once more.
IV. Outline
1-2. Vision of horns and the interpretation
3-4. Vision of artisans and the interpretation
5-9. Vision of a man measuring Jerusalem and its interpretation
10-14. Oracle
10-11. Zion should return
12-13. The punishers will be punished
14. God will return to Zion
15a. The nations will return to God
15b. Recognition of God formula
16. God will return to Jerusalem
17. Awe of God
V. Comment
No comment today. Stay tuned.
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Collins, John J. “Introduction to the Hebrew Bible,” (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2004).
Photo taken from http://www.treklens.com/gallery/photo19154.htm