Zechariah 4-5

New International Version - UK

The gold lampstand and the two olive trees

4 Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. ² He asked me, ‘What do you see?’

I answered, ‘I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. ³ Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’

⁴ I asked the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these, my lord?’

⁵ He answered, ‘Do you not know what these are?’

‘No, my lord,’ I replied.

⁶ So he said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.

⁷ ‘What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of “God bless it! God bless it!”’

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to me: ⁹ ‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.

¹⁰ ‘Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone^[a] in the hand of Zerubbabel?’

¹¹ Then I asked the angel, ‘What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?’

¹² Again I asked him, ‘What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?’

¹³ He replied, ‘Do you not know what these are?’

‘No, my lord,’ I said.

¹⁴ So he said, ‘These are the two who are anointed to^[b] serve the Lord of all the earth.’

The flying scroll

5 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.

² He asked me, ‘What do you see?’

I answered, ‘I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.’^[c]

³ And he said to me, ‘This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. ⁴ The Lord Almighty declares, “I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.”’

The woman in a basket

⁵ Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, ‘Look up and see what is appearing.’

⁶ I asked, ‘What is it?’

He replied, ‘It is a basket.’ And he added, ‘This is the iniquity^[d] of the people throughout the land.’

⁷ Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! ⁸ He said, ‘This is wickedness,’ and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.

⁹ Then I looked up – and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

¹⁰ ‘Where are they taking the basket?’ I asked the angel who was speaking to me.

¹¹ He replied, ‘To the country of Babylonia^[e] to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.’