Zechariah 2-3

New Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

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 around 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.

Fourth Vision: Joshua and Satan

3 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan^[e] standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² And the Lord said to Satan,^[f] “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan!^[g] The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” ³ Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. ⁴ The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.” ⁵ And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with the apparel; and the angel of the Lord was standing by.

⁶ Then the angel of the Lord assured Joshua, saying ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. ⁸ Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch. ⁹ For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. ¹⁰ On that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree.”