Zechariah 3:2

3:2 The Lord ¹  said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, ²  rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

Zechariah 4:7

Oracle of Response

4:7 “What are you, you great mountain? ³  Because of Zerubbabel you will become a level plain! And he will bring forth the temple ⁴  capstone with shoutings of ‘Grace! Grace!’ ⁵  because of this.”

Zechariah 5:9

5:9 Then I looked again and saw two women ⁶  going forth with the wind in their wings (they had wings like those of a stork) and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky.

[3:2]  ¹ sn The juxtaposition of the messenger of the Lord in v. 1 and the Lord in v. 2 shows that here, at least, they are one and the same. See Zech 1:11, 12 where they are distinguished from each other.

[3:2]  ² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[4:7]  ³ sn In context, the great mountain here must be viewed as a metaphor for the enormous task of rebuilding the temple and establishing the messianic kingdom (cf. TEV “Obstacles as great as mountains”).

[4:7]  ⁴ tn The word “temple” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent (cf. NLT “final stone of the Temple”).

[4:7]  ⁵ sn Grace is a fitting response to the idea that it was “not by strength and not by power” but by God’s gracious Spirit that the work could be done (cf. v. 6).

[5:9]  ⁵ sn Here two women appear as the agents of the Lord because the whole scene is feminine in nature. The Hebrew word for “wickedness” in v. 8 (רִשְׁעָה) is grammatically feminine, so feminine imagery is appropriate throughout.