Zechariah 2

World English Bible 86 include this book

1 I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

2 Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.”

3 Behold, the angel who talked with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him,

4 and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.

5 For I,’ says the LORD, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her.

6 Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says the LORD; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says the LORD.

7 ‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’

8 For the LORD of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

9 For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me.

10 Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! For behold, I come and I will dwell within you,’ says the LORD.

11 Many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that the LORD of Armies 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 flesh, before the LORD; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”

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3 places named in this chapter.

Where this was written

Jerusalem attested Same setting as Haggai.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 520 BC–480 BC Zechariah
The whole book ascribed to the prophet of the return.
Critical: 520 BC–400 BC Zechariah and later hands
Chapters 1-8 are firmly dated; 9-14 differ in style and outlook and are usually placed later.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (520 BC–400 BC).

1200 BC–400 BC Olmec civilisation Mesoamerica
The earliest major Mesoamerican civilisation, known for colossal stone heads and an early calendar.
1070 BC–350 AD The kingdom of Kush Africa
A Nubian power on the upper Nile that ruled Egypt itself as its twenty-fifth dynasty.
600 BC–500 BC Daoism takes shape in China China
The teaching associated with Laozi, emphasising harmony with the natural order.
570 BC–495 BC Pythagoras Greece
Mathematician and mystic whose school treated number as the structure of reality.
563 BC–483 BC Life of Siddhartha Gautama India
The founder of Buddhism taught in the Ganges plain, roughly contemporary with the Judean exile.
550 BC–330 BC The Persian empire founded Persia
Cyrus and his successors ruled from the Aegean to the Indus, the largest empire the world had yet seen.
516 BC Second Temple completed Levant
The rebuilt temple in Jerusalem was finished under Persian authorisation.
509 BC The Roman republic founded Rome
The last king was expelled and Rome became a republic governed by elected magistrates.

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