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Zechariah 2
A man with a measuring line sets out to measure Jerusalem (v.1-2) — but the surveyor is stopped. A second angel runs to tell him the city will spread out "without walls," too full of people and livestock to be contained, with the LORD himself a wall of fire around it. From there the vision opens into a summons: flee Babylon, return to Zion. The chapter ends with the striking claim that many nations will join the LORD, and a command for all flesh to be silent before him.
- 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!”
A city too big for walls
The reversal is the point. A returning community might want strong walls; the vision says walls would limit a city God means to overflow. The protection shifts from masonry to presence — fire around it, glory in the middle of it (v.5).
The tender note in verse 8 anchors it: whoever touches Zion touches "the apple of his eye." The promise that nations themselves become God's people (v.11) widens the book beyond Judah, and prepares the high-priest vision of chapter 3.
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