Morning over small, ruined Jerusalem seen from the Mount of Olives: broken walls with gaps and tumbled stone, rough houses among the rubble and the cleared temple platform, under a calm pale sky.

Eight night visions

Zechariah 2

What walls are you counting on to keep you safe?

13 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1:1–6Return to MeA call to turn, in Darius’s second year
1:7–6:8Eight night visionsHorses, horns, a lampstand, a scroll, a basket, chariotsChapter 2
6:9–15The Branch crownedA crown for Joshua, and the Branch who builds
7–8Fasts to feastsJustice and mercy, and joy in Zion
9–11Your King comesThe King on a donkey, and the Shepherd rejected
12–14On that dayThe pierced One, the fountain, the LORD King

The Vision of the Measuring Line

Zechariah

Zechariah

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

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Zechariah

“Where are you going?” I asked.

The man with the line

“To measure Jerusalem,” he replied, “and to determine its width and length.”

Another angel

Jerusalem's hill across the valley at morning: the old broken wall line overrun by rough houses, sheep pens and goat folds spilling over the slopes beyond it, flocks and cattle grazing between them and smoke rising from many hearths.

Then the angel who was speaking with me went forth, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it.

God

Night: small dark Jerusalem on its ridge with broken walls and warm lamplight in its houses, ringed all around on the encircling hills by an unbroken low line of steady fire lighting the valleys.

For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory within it.’”

Question

Quick question

The man went out to measure Jerusalem for its walls. Read what the angel says in 2:4 before you answer.

Why will Jerusalem be a city without walls?

The Redemption of Zion

Stylised map · locations approximate

Where it happened

Out of Babylon

Many Jews were still in Babylon, a journey of about four months to Jerusalem (Ezra 7:9). The LORD calls them home.

God

“Get up! Get up! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD.

God

Early morning on a road beside a palm-lined canal outside Babylon's great flat-topped mud-brick walls: returning families walk away from the city with bundles, jars, small children and a few laden donkeys.

“Get up, O Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the Daughter of Babylon!”

God

For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “After His Glory has sent Me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of His eye— I will surely wave My hand over them, so that they will become plunder for their own servants.

God

Then you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me.”

God

“Shout for joy and be glad, O Daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell among you,” declares the LORD.

Zechariah 2:10

God

Morning, seen far off: travelers of several peoples on the roads converging on Jerusalem's hill: Persians in pleated robes, Phoenician traders, Egyptians in white linen and hill men with donkeys, all walking toward the temple height.

“On that day many nations will join themselves to the LORD, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent Me to you.

God

And the LORD will take possession of Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will once again choose Jerusalem.

God

Dusk over the temple ridge of small Jerusalem, perfectly still: a single column of smoke rising straight up from a rough stone altar into a calm sky, the valley below dark and silent.

Be silent before the LORD, all people, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.”

0:06

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Pray

LORD, be my wall of fire and the glory within. Thank You that You came to dwell among us. I am silent before You now.

You’ve experienced

Zechariah 2

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A verse to carry with you

“Shout for joy and be glad, O Daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell among you,” declares the LORD.

Zechariah 2:10

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