4
1 Then the angel I had been talking to returned and got my attention, like waking someone from sleep.*Clearly Zechariah was not actually asleep, only deep in thought.
2 “What do you see?” he asked me.
“I see a lampstand made of solid gold with a bowl at its top having seven lamps on it, each with seven lips.†The lips are small channels holding the wicks. 3 I also see olive trees, one to the right and one to the left of the bowl.”
4 Then I asked the angel I was talking to, “What are these, my lord?”
5 “Don't you know what these are?” the angel replied.
“No, my lord,” I responded.
6 Then he told me, “This is the Lord's message to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty. 7 Even obstacles as big as mountains will be flattened before Zerubbabel. Finally he will bring out the capstone‡Probably meaning the topmost stone of the rebuilt Temple. to shouts of ‘Blessings on it!’ ”
8 Then the Lord gave me another message. 9 Zerubbabel with his own hands laid the foundations for this Temple, and it will be completed the same way. Then you§“You” here is singular, and so is taken to mean Zerubbabel. will know the Lord Almighty has sent me. 10 For who dares look down on this time of small beginnings? They will be happy when they see the plumb line in Zerubbabel's hand.
“The seven lamps represent the eyes of the Lord which see all over the world.”*The angels is answering his own question from 4:5 regarding the meaning of the lamps.
11 Then I asked the angel, “What are the two olive trees that stand to the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 And I also asked him, “What are the two olive branches from which the golden oil pours out from through golden pipes?”
13 “Don't you know?” the angel replied.
“No, my lord,” I responded.
14 “These are the two who have been anointed†The identity of these two beings is debated. Some see them as heavenly beings, while others identify them as Joshua and Zerubbabel. who stand by the Lord of all the earth,” he replied.
*4:1 Clearly Zechariah was not actually asleep, only deep in thought.
†4:2 The lips are small channels holding the wicks.
‡4:7 Probably meaning the topmost stone of the rebuilt Temple.
§4:9 “You” here is singular, and so is taken to mean Zerubbabel.
*4:10 The angels is answering his own question from 4:5 regarding the meaning of the lamps.
†4:14 The identity of these two beings is debated. Some see them as heavenly beings, while others identify them as Joshua and Zerubbabel.