Zechariah 4:4

4:4 Then I asked the messenger who spoke with me, “What are these, ¹  sir?”

Zechariah 4:11

4:11 Next I asked the messenger, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the menorah?”

Zechariah 4:13

4:13 He replied, “Don’t you know what these are?” And I said, “No, sir.”

Zechariah 5:6

5:6 I asked, “What is it?” And he replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain ²  that is moving away from here.” Moreover, he said, “This is their ‘eye’ ³  throughout all the earth.”

Zechariah 6:4

6:4 Then I asked the angelic messenger ⁴  who was speaking with me, “What are these, sir?”

Zechariah 9:17

9:17 How precious and fair! ⁵  Grain will make the young men flourish and new wine the young women.

Zechariah 13:6

13:6 Then someone will ask him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’ ⁶  and he will answer, ‘Some that I received in the house of my friends.’

¹ sn Here these must refer to the lamps, since the identification of the olive trees is left to vv. 11-14.

² tn Heb “[This is] the ephah.” An ephah was a liquid or solid measure of about a bushel (five gallons or just under twenty liters). By metonymy it refers here to a measuring container (probably a basket) of that quantity.

³ tc The LXX and Syriac read עֲוֹנָם (’avonam, “their iniquity,” so NRSV; NIV similar) for the MT עֵינָם (’enam, “their eye”), a reading that is consistent with the identification of the woman in v. 8 as wickedness, but one that is unnecessary. In 4:10 the “eye” represented divine omniscience and power; here it represents the demonic counterfeit.

³ tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.

⁴ sn This expostulation best fits the whole preceding description of God’s eschatological work on behalf of his people. His goodness is especially evident in his nurturing of the young men and women of his kingdom.

⁵ tn Heb “wounds between your hands.” Cf. NIV “wounds on your body”; KJV makes this more specific: “wounds in thine hands.”