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He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied,[a] “I see a menorah of pure gold with a receptacle at the top. There are seven lamps at the top, with seven[b] pipes going to the lamps.

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 4:2 tc The present translation (along with most other English versions) follows the reading of the Qere and many ancient versions, “I said,” as opposed to the MT Kethib “he said.”
  2. Zechariah 4:2 tc The MT, supported by a Qumran manuscript, reads “seven and seven,” which would be fourteen. But Hebrew normally says “four and ten.” The LXX simply reads “seven,” suggesting the MT has a case of dittography.

There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the receptacle and the other on the left.”[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 4:3 sn The vision apparently describes two olive trees providing olive oil by pipes to a large basin atop the menorah. From this basin two pipes extend to each of the seven lamps of the menorah, for a total of fourteen pipes in all. See vv. 11-12.

12 Before he could reply I asked again, “What are these two extensions[a] of the olive trees, which are emptying out the golden oil through the two golden pipes?”

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 4:12 tn The usual meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁבֹּלֶת (shebolet) is “ears” (as in ears of grain). Here it probably refers to the produce of the olive trees, i.e., olives. Many English versions render the term as “branches,” but cf. NAB “tufts.”