Zechariah 2

New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised

Third Vision: The Man with a Measuring Line

2 ^[a] I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ² Then I asked, ‘Where are you going?’ He answered me, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.’ ³ Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him, ⁴ and said to him, ‘Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and animals in it. ⁵ For I will be a wall of fire all round it, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.’

Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles

⁶ Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord; for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. ⁷ Up! Escape to Zion, you that live with daughter Babylon. ⁸ For thus said the Lord of hosts (after his glory^[b] sent me) regarding the nations that plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.^{[c] 9} See now, I am going to raise^[d] my hand against them, and they shall become plunder for their own slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. ¹⁰ Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord. ¹¹ Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. ¹² The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

¹³ Be silent, all people, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.