Zechariah 2
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Third Vision: A Man With a Measuring Line
2 Then I looked up, and I saw a man standing there with a measuring line in his hand.[a] 2 I asked him, “Where are you going?”
He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to determine its width and its length.”
3 At that moment, when the angel who was speaking with me was about to leave, another angel came to meet him and 4 said, “Run and tell this young man that Jerusalem will be inhabited as a city without walls because of the large number of people and livestock in it. 5 For I myself will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.”
6 Attention! This is urgent! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord, for I have scattered you as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord.
7 Attention, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For this is what the Lord of Armies says. For the sake of his glory he sent me to the nations that plundered you, because whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.[b][c] 9 Yes, I myself will swing my hand over them, and they will become plunder for their own slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me.
10 Sing loudly and rejoice, daughter of Zion. Yes, look! I am coming, and I will dwell among you, declares the Lord. 11 Many nations will be joined to the Lord on that day, and they will become my people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. 12 Then the Lord will take possession of Judah as his special portion of the holy soil, and he will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Keep silent before the Lord, all flesh, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
Footnotes
- Zechariah 2:1 English verses 2:1-13 are verses 2:5-17 in Hebrew.
- Zechariah 2:8 The term apple of the eye is an old English idiom for the pupil of the eye. Literally, the Hebrew reads daughter or gate of the eye.
- Zechariah 2:8 His eye is the reading in the main body of the Hebrew text. This reading could be understood as a statement of an angel referring to God’s eye or as the Angel of the Lord referring to the eye of God the Father. An alternate Hebrew reading is my eye. This would likely refer to the Angel of the Lord speaking of himself. A secondary issue in regard to the variant is whether some scribes had an aversion to speaking of touching God’s eye.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.