Zechariah 1:9

The Interpretation of the First Vision

1:9 Then I asked one nearby, “What are these, sir?” The angelic messenger ¹  who replied to me said, “I will show you what these are.”

Zechariah 2:2

2:2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He replied, “To measure Jerusalem ²  in order to determine its width and its length.”

Zechariah 2:9

2:9 “I am about to punish them ³  in such a way,” he says, “that they will be looted by their own slaves.” Then you will know that the Lord who rules over all has sent me.

Zechariah 5:2

5:2 Someone asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.” ⁴ 

[1:9]  ¹ tn Heb “messenger” or “angel” (מַלְאָךְ, mal’akh). This being appears to serve as an interpreter to the prophet (cf. vv. 13, 14).

[2:2]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:9]  ³ tn Heb “I will wave my hand over them” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “raise my hand against them.”

[5:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “twenty cubits…ten cubits” (so NAB, NRSV). These dimensions (“thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide”) can hardly be referring to the scroll when unrolled since that would be all out of proportion to the normal ratio, in which the scroll would be 10 to 15 times as long as it was wide. More likely, the scroll is 15 feet thick when rolled, a hyperbole expressing the enormous amount and the profound significance of the information it contains.