Zechariah 4:7

Oracle of Response

4:7 “What are you, you great mountain? ¹  Because of Zerubbabel you will become a level plain! And he will bring forth the temple ²  capstone with shoutings of ‘Grace! Grace!’ ³  because of this.”

Zechariah 5:9

5:9 Then I looked again and saw two women ⁴  going forth with the wind in their wings (they had wings like those of a stork) and they lifted up the basket between the earth and the sky.

Zechariah 9:8

9:8 Then I will surround my temple ⁵  to protect it like a guard ⁶  from anyone crossing back and forth; so no one will cross over against them anymore as an oppressor, for now I myself have seen it.

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¹ sn In context, the great mountain here must be viewed as a metaphor for the enormous task of rebuilding the temple and establishing the messianic kingdom (cf. TEV “Obstacles as great as mountains”).

² tn The word “temple” has been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent (cf. NLT “final stone of the Temple”).

³ sn Grace is a fitting response to the idea that it was “not by strength and not by power” but by God’s gracious Spirit that the work could be done (cf. v. 6).

⁴ sn Here two women appear as the agents of the Lord because the whole scene is feminine in nature. The Hebrew word for “wickedness” in v. 8 (רִשְׁעָה) is grammatically feminine, so feminine imagery is appropriate throughout.

⁵ tn Heb “house” (so NAB, NIV, NRSV).

⁶ tn Though a hapax legomenon, the מִצָּבָה (mitsavah) of the MT (from נָצַב, natsav, “take a stand”) is preferable to the suggestion מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, “pillar”) or even מִצָּבָא (mitsava’, “from” or “against the army”). The context favors the idea of the Lord as a protector.