Zechariah 3-4

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

3 Then [the guiding angel] showed me Joshua the high priest standing before ^[a]the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at Joshua’s right hand to be his adversary and to accuse him.

² And the Lord said to Satan, The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! Even the Lord, Who [now and habitually] chooses Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this [returned captive Joshua] a brand plucked out of the fire?^(A)

³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and was standing before the Angel [of the Lord].

⁴ And He spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And He said to [Joshua], Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich apparel.

⁵ And I [Zechariah] said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with [rich] garments. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.

⁶ And the Angel of the Lord [solemnly and earnestly] protested and affirmed to Joshua, saying,

⁷ Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then also you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you access [to My presence] and places to walk among these who stand here.

⁸ Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your colleagues who [usually] sit before you—for they are men who are a sign or omen [types of what is to come]—for behold, I will bring forth My servant the ^[b]Branch.^(B)

⁹ For behold, upon the stone which I have set before Joshua, upon that one stone are seven eyes or facets [the all-embracing providence of God and the sevenfold radiations of the Spirit of God]. Behold, I will carve upon it its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity and guilt of this land in a single day.^(C)

¹⁰ In that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each man his neighbor under his own vine and his own fig tree.^(D)

4 And the angel who talked with me came again and awakened me, like a man who is wakened out of his sleep.

² And said to me, What do you see? I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl [for oil] on the top of it and its seven lamps on it, and [there are] seven pipes to each of the seven lamps which are upon the top of it.^(E)

³ And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it [feeding it continuously with oil].^(F)

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

⁵ Then the angel who talked with me answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.

⁶ Then he said to me, This [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts.

⁷ For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere ^[c]molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it!^(G)

⁸ Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

⁹ The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this house; his hands shall also finish it. Then you shall know (recognize and understand) that the Lord of hosts has sent me [His messenger] to you.

¹⁰ Who [with reason] despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice when they see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. [These seven] are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro throughout the whole earth.^(H)

¹¹ Then I said to him [the angel who talked with me], What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?

¹² And a second time I said to him, What are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden tubes or spouts by which the golden oil is emptied out?

¹³ And he answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.

¹⁴ Then said he, These are the two ^[d]sons of oil [Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince of Judah, the two anointed ones] who stand before the Lord of the whole earth [as His anointed instruments].^(I)