Zechariah 2

Jerusalem, too big for city walls

Crowds are coming

1I looked up and saw a man carrying a measuring string. 2I asked, “Where are you headed?” He said, “Jerusalem. I’m going to measure the width and length.”

3Suddenly, someone rushed over to the angel who talked with me earlier. 4He said, “Hurry, you need to tell that young man over there about Jerusalem. Assure him that Jerusalem is going to become a city so big and so full of people and animals that walls won’t matter. People will live outside the walls. Jerusalem will look like a supersized village without walls. 5Tell him the LORD says, ‘I’ll be Jerusalem’s protective wall of fire. And I’ll be the reason for Jerusalem’s glory.’”

Time for all exiles to come home

6The LORD says, “Get up and get out of that foreign land. I scattered you once to the four winds. 7But now it’s time to come home to Jerusalem’s Mount Zion. If you’re still living in Babylon, get out of there.”

8The LORD of everyone honored [1] me by sending me to the nations that plundered you. He said anyone who lays a finger on you from now on is messing with someone near and dear to him. 9The LORD is going to tear into the nations that tore you apart. They plundered the people they turned into slaves, but now those slaves will plunder them.

Other nations become God’s people, too

10The LORD says, “Start singing for joy, my sweet daughter Zion. I’m coming home to stay.” [2]

11Someday many nations will come to the LORD. They will become my people, too, just as you are. When that happens, you will remember what I said. Then you’ll know that the LORD of everyone sent me to you. 12The LORD owns Judah. That part of this holy land belongs to him. So does Jerusalem.

13Everyone be quiet. Here comes the LORD. He’s stepping out of his sacred home.

Footnotes

Intro Notes to Zechariah

12:8

“Honor” is a guess. The vexing Hebrew phrase behind the word translates more literally: “after glory,” he sent me to the nation plundering you. Scholars offer a variety of guesses about what that means. It could mean God honored the prophet because he spoke the truth and his words came true. Or maybe the glory refers to God. Or it could be that the mission itself was glorious.

22:10

This last section, verses 10-13, may have been something worshipers said when they met to pray and read the writings of Moses and other sacred material they had at the time. The Jewish Bible probably wasn’t finalized for another 500 years. But they may have access to the works attributed to Moses (the first five books in the Bible) and the prophets who predicted the fall of the Jewish kingdoms of Israel and Judah.