Zechariah 2

Revised Standard Version

Third Vision: The Man with a Measuring Line

2 ^[a] And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! ² Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length.” ³ And behold, 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 as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle in it. ⁵ For I will be to her a wall of fire round about, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within her.’”

Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles

⁶ Ho! ho! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord; for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, says the Lord. ⁷ Ho! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. ⁸ For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: ⁹ “Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. ¹⁰ Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord. ¹¹ And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. ¹² And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

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