¹³ Of cinnamon, spices, incense, ointment and perfume, and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, fine flour and wheat; of cattle and sheep, horses and conveyances; and of slaves (the bodies) and souls of men!

¹⁴ The ripe fruits and delicacies for which your soul longed have gone from you, and all your luxuries and dainties, your elegance and splendor are lost to you, never again to be recovered or experienced!

¹⁵ The dealers who handled these articles, who grew wealthy through their business with her, will stand a long way off, in terror of her doom and torment, weeping and grieving aloud, and saying,

¹⁶ Alas, alas for the great city that was robed in fine linen, in purple and scarlet, bedecked and glittering with gold, with precious stones, and with pearls!^(A)

¹⁷ Because in one [single] hour all the vast wealth has been destroyed (wiped out). And all ship captains and pilots, navigators and all who live by seafaring, the crews and all who ply their trade on the sea, stood a long way off,^(B)

¹⁸ And exclaimed as they watched the smoke of her burning, What city could be compared to the great city!

¹⁹ And they threw dust on their heads as they wept and grieved, exclaiming, Woe and alas, for the great city, where all who had ships on the sea grew rich [through her extravagance] from her great wealth! In one single hour she has been destroyed and has become a desert!^(C)

²⁰ Rejoice (celebrate) over her, O heaven! O saints (people of God) and apostles and prophets, because God has executed vengeance for you upon her!^(D)

²¹ Then a single powerful angel took up a boulder like a great millstone and flung it into the sea, crying, With such violence shall Babylon the great city be hurled down to destruction and shall never again be found.^(E)

²² And the sound of harpists and minstrels and flute players and trumpeters shall never again be heard in you, and no skilled artisan of any craft shall ever again be found in you, and the sound of the millstone shall never again be heard in you.^(F)

²³ And never again shall the light of a lamp shine in you, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall never be heard in you again; for your businessmen were the great and prominent men of the earth, and by your magic spells and poisonous charm all nations were led astray (seduced and deluded).

²⁴ And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all those who have been slain (slaughtered) on earth.^(G)

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)