Zechariah 2:1-9

Vision Three: The Surveyor

2:1 (2:5) I looked again, and there was a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2:2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He replied, “To measure Jerusalem ¹  in order to determine its width and its length.” 2:3 At this point the angelic messenger ²  who spoke to me went out, and another messenger came to meet him 2:4 and said to him, “Hurry, speak to this young man ³  as follows: ‘Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls ⁴  because of the multitude of people and animals there. 2:5 But I (the Lord says) will be a wall of fire surrounding Jerusalem ⁵  and the source of glory in her midst.’”

2:6 “You there! ⁶  Flee from the northland!” says the Lord, “for like the four winds of heaven ⁷  I have scattered you,” says the Lord. 2:7 “Escape, Zion, you who live among the Babylonians!” ⁸  2:8 For the Lord who rules over all says to me that for his own glory ⁹  he has sent me to the nations that plundered you – for anyone who touches you touches the pupil ¹⁰  of his ¹¹  eye. 2:9 “I am about to punish them ¹²  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.

[2:2]  ¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[2:3]  ² tn See the note on the expression “angelic messenger” in 1:9.

[2:4]  ³ sn That is, to Zechariah.

[2:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “Jerusalem will dwell as open regions (פְּרָזוֹת, pÿrazot)”; cf. NAB “in open country”; CEV “won’t have any boundaries.” The population will be so large as to spill beyond the ancient and normal enclosures. The people need not fear, however, for the Lord will be an invisible but strong wall (v. 5).

[2:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:6]  ⁶ sn These are the scattered Jews of eschatological times (as the expression four winds of heaven makes clear) and not those of Zechariah’s time who have, for the most part, already returned by 520 b.c. This theme continues and is reinforced in vv. 10-13.

[2:6]  ⁷ tn Or “of the sky.” The same Hebrew term, שָׁמַיִם (shamayim), may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[2:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “live in [or “with” (cf. NASB), i.e., “among”] the daughter of Babylon” (so NIV; NAB “dwell in daughter Babylon”).

[2:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “After glory has he sent me” (similar KJV, NASB). What is clearly in view is the role of Zechariah who, by faithful proclamation of the message, will glorify the Lord.

[2:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “gate” (בָּבָה, bavah) of the eye, that is, pupil. The rendering of this term by KJV as “apple” has created a well-known idiom in the English language, “the apple of his eye” (so ASV, NIV). The pupil is one of the most vulnerable and valuable parts of the body, so for Judah to be considered the “pupil” of the Lord’s eye is to raise her value to an incalculable price (cf. NLT “my most precious possession”).

[2:8]  ¹¹ tc A scribal emendation (tiqqun sopherim) has apparently altered an original “my eye” to “his eye” in order to allow the prophet to be the speaker throughout vv. 8-9. This alleviates the problem of the Lord saying, in effect, that he has sent himself on the mission to the nations.

[2:9]  ¹² tn Heb “I will wave my hand over them” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV “raise my hand against them.”