Today, we continue our Zechariah series, in Zechariah chapter 2. In this chapter, we get to read Zechariah's third vision, and then we have an oracle that builds on that vision. But before we dive in, we need to go back to the first vision. What Zechariah saw first, is something we need to see again, for today to make sense. We'll just read part of it, from Zechariah 1:14-17. In these verses, the interpreting angel who is Zechariah's companion, and the one who explains to Zechariah the meaning of what he sees, gives Zechariah some comforting words, that he is to pass on to God's people living in Jerusalem:
(14) and the angel/messenger-- the one speaking with me-- said,
"Call out, saying, [2nd masc. sing; this is the message Zechariah is to give]
"Thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
"I am passionate toward Jerusalem and toward Zion a great passion,"
(15) while [with] a great anger I [am] angry concerning/against the nations that are at ease,
because I was a little angry,
while they joined together for evil/disaster.
(16) Therefore, thus has said Yahweh:
"I hereby return to Jerusalem with compassions.
My house will be built in it-- utterance of Yahweh of Armies--
while a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.
(17) Again call out, saying,
Thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
Again they will overflow-- my cities-- from good/prosperity,
and Yahweh will comfort/have compassion again on Zion,
and He will choose again Jerusalem.
For 70 years, God was angry with his people. But those days are done, and God is now changing how He relates to his people, and to Jerusalem. And actually, God's people aren't even mentioned. God's focus is on the land. God is returning to Jerusalem. He's making it his home on earth. He will make sure that a house is built for him in that city-- a temple. And in the last line of verse 16, God says that a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.
Now, we need to see that God uses a passive voice here. He doesn't say who will stretch that measuring line out. But there will be a measuring line.
Now, if there's a measuring line, there's also a surveyor. You need someone who will put on the reflective vest, and map out the future construction zone. Someone has this vision for what will be built, and the surveyor makes sure that this vision is carried out in the exact spot, with the exact dimensions, that you plan. You don't want to accidentally build too big, or too small. If you're building an addition to your garage, you want to make sure that you build that on your property, and not on your neighbor's. You don't want to build something too close to the road, and have the city slap your wrist, or force you to demolish it. A surveyor is the one who establishes where you build, and how big you build. And the idea in verses 16-17, is that the measuring line you bring to this construction site needs to be quite big. God's cities are going to overflow with prosperity. You need to build big, and measure big, to fit with what God plans.
Are you with me?
With this, we are ready for today's passage. This surveyor imagery, and measuring line imagery, now reappears. Let's read verses 1-2:
(1) and I lifted my eyes,
and I saw,
and LOOK! A man!,
and in his hand, a measuring line!,
(2) and I said,
"To where [are] you going?,"
and he said to me,
"To measure Jerusalem: to see what [is] its breadth, and what is its length,"
In chapter 1, we weren't told "who" would measure Jerusalem. Was it just a metaphor? Was it God? Was it ordinary people, who would rebuild this war-torn city?
Here, Zechariah lifts up his eyes again, and he sees someone. He sees a man. Now, there's quite a lot of debate over this man, actually. Is it an ordinary man, that Zechariah just happens to see one day while he's walking the ruins of Jerusalem (*Peter Craigie)? Or is this man an angel? And does it even matter (*Elizabeth Achtemeier)?
The language that Zechariah uses here-- of lifting his eyes, and seeing, and LOOK!-- all this is how Zechariah lets us know he's entered into another vision. God is giving Zechariah another movie clip that reveals spiritual realities. What Zechariah sees probably isn't literal. It's probably invisible to anyone who happened to be around him. It's a spiritual vision, designed to reveal something of God, and God's plan.
People debate whether this man is an actual man, or if he's a spiritual being-- an angel. But whoever this mysterious man is, the important thing about him, is that he goes out, ready to carry out God's vision. What he is doing, is more important than he is (*Elizabeth Achtemeier). God had said a measuring line would be stretched out over Jerusalem-- and that's what the man is going to do.
Except, there's a catch to this. What the man says, is not quite what God had said. The man wants to determine the outer limits of Jerusalem. He wants to establish its breadth, and its length.
When I was in high school, a local pet store was going out of business. It couldn't compete with the big box store that was opening three blocks away. My friend worked there, and he let me know they were selling aquariums for $1 per gallon. They had 30 gallon tanks, and 55 gallon tanks. And everyone who's bought tropical fish, and keeps fish as their pet instead of a dog or cat, knows that the critical question you have to answer first, is how big of a tank to buy. You need to determine the breadth and length of the tank, because once you commit to that size, you're stuck with it. You can't buy a 30 gallon, and then put an addition on it. The glass walls of the tank put a hard limit on everything you can do with the tank, from that day forward.
Ancient capital cities work the same way. You have to determine the breadth, and length, of a city, because every city has a wall. You need to draw the line somewhere, because you have to build a wall to protect that city. A wall is one of the first things you need, to be a safe and secure city, or nation. Everyone needs a big, beautiful wall.
Right?
So is everyone with me, on the first little part of our movie clip? The man is going out to survey Jerusalem, in line with God's expectation that this will happen. But the man has added on a new idea to God's expectation. He's put limitations on it. And no one has quite mentioned the idea of a wall, but the wall is in the back of our mind.
Into this movie clip, two more angels (arguably-- but I feel good about this being the correct reading) enter the scene. One of them is the familiar interpreting angel, who explains to Zechariah the meaning of all of these visions. Verses 3-5:
(3) and LOOK! The angel/messenger-- the one speaking with me-- was coming out,
while another messenger was coming out to meet (Genesis 33:4) him,
(4) and he (=the interpreting angel) said to him (=to this other, third angel that was meeting him),
"Run! Speak to that official/young man (=to the first "man"), saying,
'Rural/open country, Jerusalem shall dwell/live [like], ["rural country" is focused]
because of the multitude of humans and domestic animals in its midst,
(5) while I will be for it-- utterance of Yahweh-- a wall of fire surrounding,
while for [its] glory I will be in its midst.
The measuring line man was about to make a mistake. He misunderstood the whole measuring line imagery. And so the interpreting angel enters the movie, to quickly fix that mistake.
God's vision for Jerusalem is bigger than the man's. And it's different. When God pictures the future city of Jerusalem, he pictures something radically different than it's ever been. Jerusalem will be so filled with people and animals, that you can't possibly put a wall around it. The urban sprawl will be incredible. If we pull in Zechariah 1:17, the prosperity will be overflowing, pouring out uncontrollably. You can't put limits on the type of population, or prosperity, that God has planned. Jerusalem shouldn't be a fish tank, with big walls all around, because the prosperity and people would flow right over the top.
This maybe sounds like a great promise. But if you're Zechariah's original audience, or even Zechariah, this is also scary. You need a wall. A wall is what protects you from your enemies. It you lets you keep out, the outsiders who you really don't want to live with. It's also the thing that gives an ancient city its glory. A city's walls are the things that tell everyone that this is a big, important, city (glory= the external, visible evidence that someone/something is a big deal). And so what God promises in verse 5, is that He will personally make up for that absence. God will be a better wall-- the type that can't be destroyed, or bypassed. And God will give the city of Jerusalem its glory. You will able to tell that Jerusalem is a special, important, city, because God will very obviously make this city his home on earth.
That's the outer limit of our vision for today. But now, starting in 6, we have a prophetic oracle. The prophet receives a word from God to pass on to the people. This word builds off of the first three visions Zechariah saw. Let's start with just Zechariah 2:6, because the verses after that are incredibly difficult:
(6) "Hey! Hey! ["hey" also in Isaiah 55:1]
Flee (2nd person plural) from the Land of the North-- utterance of Yahweh. [Jeremiah 51:6; Revelation 18:4]
Surely, like the four windows of the heavens, I have scattered you-- utterance of Yahweh.
Zechariah opens with a call for attention: "hey!" This word, interestingly, is often translated as "woe" when you're reading the prophets. But it's really an attention getter. Listen up. Pay attention.
God, through Zechariah, is addressing the parts of his nation, his people, who haven't yet returned home to Jerusalem. Some people returned, but many have not. God opens this word by getting their attention, and telling them they need to run, and leave their homes.
For 70 years, God's people built themselves a new life in Babylon. They built homes, and planted gardens. They married, and had kids. They sought the good of the city in which they were forced to live (Jeremiah 29:5-9). Babylon had become home, in the same way that many immigrants today, for sure by the second generation, have made the U.S. their home. My Canadian Filipino friend jokingly calls herself "whitewashed." Her parents are from the Philippines, and she started life there. But Canada became home, and for her kids, English is very much their first language. She looks Filipino, and there's a sense in which she still is. But she's also very much a Canadian.
That's the situation God's people found themselves in. For 70 years, Babylon has become home, while God brought judgment on them, and on their land. But now, those 70 years are up, and it's time to come home, to a war-torn city.
If you've successfully adapted to Babylonian life, and built houses, and planted gardens, do you want to leave? I can picture my wife having gone through the hard work of creating a new garden from nothing. She's worked the dirt, and picked rocks, and fertilized it, year after year. She's watched her baby apple trees, and pear trees, and peach tree (!), grow year after year, babying them. Would she want to leave that, and start over somewhere new?
It's to people like that, who have carved out a new life for themselves in Babylon, that God speaks. God says, to his scattered people, "Flee! Run, like someone's chasing you."
With this, we might think we are ready for verses 7-9:
(7) Hey!, Zion, escape!-- [you who are] the dweller of the daughter of Babylon!,
(8) because thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
'After Glory has sent me to the nations-- the ones plundering you--
because the one touching/harming you [is] touching/harming the pupil of his eye-- [Jeremiah 51:24]
(9) surely, LOOK! I am about to lift my hand against them, [for "lifting his hand against," see Isaiah 11:15; 19:16; idiom is used positively in 2 Kings 5:11, but there with a different preposition, "el" not "al"]
and they will become plunder for their own servants,
and/that you (plural) will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me!"
The main point of verses 7-9 is not hard. The reason God's people are called to flee from Babylon, is because the day is now coming when the promised judgment on Babylon is here (Jeremiah 50:1-2). Babylon has been a good home for 70 years. Building houses, planting gardens, and seeking the good of Babylon, was what God wanted. But now God wants you to come home. And you may have come to love your good home right now. But that good home will turn into something very different when God brings judgment against Babylon.
Are you all with me? The main point of verses 7-9 is not hard. What's hard, though, is that there looks to be a mysterious figure half-hiding in these verses. Look at verse 8. "Thus has said Yahweh of Armies: After Glory has sent me to the nations."
In verse 9, this "me" person is going to lift his hand against their enemies. "Me" is taking an active role in bringing judgment.
Then look at the last line of verse 9: "you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me."
Who is "me?"
Can it be Zechariah? These are the type of verses you read, and then you flee to your commentaries for help. I ran fast, and what I found was no help. Most people think Zechariah is "me" here, and I find that really dissatisfying.
I think the explanation of these verses that makes sense, is a kind of complicated one. Throughout the OT, there is this special angel, is who called "the angel of Yahweh." This angel of Yahweh is distinct from Yahweh, but he is at the same, also Yahweh. It's like there's a Yahweh in heaven who is never seen. And there's a Yahweh on earth, who sometimes reveals himself, who is also called the angel of Yahweh. In the same story, the angel of Yahweh is sometimes simply called Yahweh (compare Exodus 3:2, with Exodus 3:4, 6). At the same time, there's still just one Yahweh (Deuteronomy 6:4). How can this be? The simplest solution, is the angel of Yahweh is Jesus (*Michael Heiser, Unseen Realm).
So I think what's going on in verses 8-9, is that Jesus is involved here. Jesus is the angel of Yahweh, and he is the one speaking. Jesus, who is called "Yahweh of Armies," says that Glory is sending him to all the nations who are plundering Father's people. Glory is sending him, because God's people are incredibly special to God. They are the pupil of his eye-- the part of who you are, that instinctively, immediately will always protect. No one gets to touch your eye. No one gets to touch God's people. So Jesus is going to lift his hand in judgment against these nations, and turn those nations inside out. The servants will plunder their masters. And in that day, end of verse 9, Jesus says, you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me. So there's a Yahweh who lives in heaven, God the Father. And a Yahweh who reveals himself on earth, God the Son. And they can both be called "Yahweh of Armies," because there is only one God. That's confusing, and complicated, but any talk of the Trinity is supposed to be confusing and complicated.
So that's my explanation. It might be right. Or maybe, somehow, Zechariah is the "me" of these verses (and other things need to be translated a little differently, to try to make it all make sense). But either way, the message to God's people living in Babylon is quite clear. You need to leave your homes and gardens and way of life, and flee to Jerusalem, because God's judgment is coming very soon on your homes. That judgment isn't targeting you. God isn't mad at you. But you will be swept up in it, unless you come home. This is like Lot and his family, being rushed out of Sodom before God rains fire down on it (Genesis 19:15; and actually, with Lot wrestling with whether or not he actually wanted to leave-- Genesis 19:18-19). Flee quickly, because the judgment God promised to bring down on Babylon (Jeremiah 50:1-2) is coming soon.
In verses 10-12, God pivots from talking to his people in Babylon, to addressing the city of Jerusalem. The bad news that's hitting Babylon, is good news for Jerusalem. But it's a surprising sort of good news:
(10) Sing (2nd fem. singular), and rejoice, Daughter Zion!,
because LOOK! I am coming!,
and I will dwell in your midst-- utterance of Yahweh,
(11) and many nations will be joined/attached to Yahweh in that day,
and they will become for me a people/family (Lev. 21:4),
and I will dwell in your midst,
and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you,
(12) and Yahweh will take possession of Judah-- his portion-- upon the land of holiness,
and He will choose again Jerusalem.
We might expect the judgment God plans on Babylon to be final, and permanent (Revelation 18:21). We might expect that God's people will rise up at the end of that judgment alone-- that they'd be the last nation standing. But the judgments God is bringing against the nations, and Babylon in particular, in the book of Zechariah, are not that type of final judgment. Last week, we read about how God will cut off the four horns, that scattered God's people across the Babylonian empire. This week, we just read about how the mysterious "I" will raise his hand against Babylon. But those judgments do two things:
(1) They destroy the power of those who would harm God's people. It's a bit like taking the gun away from someone. Or, on a much bigger scale, what Russia is trying to do to Ukraine, in demilitarizing them. God is stripping the nations of their power to hurt the pupil of his eye.
(2) They punish them, proportionately, for what they did to God's people. God was a little angry with his people, but what the nations did to Israel was more severe than God desired. And so God punishes that (Revelation 19:2).
But at the end of all of that, God's plan for humanity still includes all nations. And what we see in these verses, 10-12, is that Zion-- Jerusalem-- should rejoice at what's coming next. God will come and live in Jerusalem, in the newly completed temple. Many nations will be joined to Yahweh in that day. God's people will become something that spans across ethnicities, and skin colors, and languages.
Now, my guess is that there are certain streams of Christianity that view these verses as end time prophecies. Some probably say, "These verses are predictions that the temple will once again be rebuilt. God will once again live in Jerusalem. And many nations will come to Jerusalem, and join with God's people."
But there's no reason to separate out these verses from everything else we've read in Zechariah, and that we will read. At the time of this oracle being written, the temple was in the process of being rebuilt (Zechariah 4:9). The judgment on Babylon was going to hit within just a couple years, at most (*Mark Boda). And the call to flee Babylon was something that needed to be listened to now, before it's too late.
And this promise, that Jerusalem would become a place of many nations who had joined themselves to God, was something that was already fulfilled by the time Jesus came. Let's read from Acts 2 (NRSV updated no reason):
2 When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. 2 And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.
Listen carefully at verse 5:
5 Now there were devout Jews from every people under heaven living in Jerusalem.
6 And at this sound the crowd gathered and was bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in the native language of each. 7 Amazed and astonished, they asked, “Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? 8 And how is it that we hear, each of us, in our own native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, 11 Cretans and Arabs—in our own languages we hear them speaking about God’s deeds of power.” 12 All were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13 But others sneered and said, “They are filled with new wine.”
Jerusalem became a large, bustling city, filled with people from every nation, who had joined themselves to God. It's a city that rose from the ashes, from the destruction, to become something beautiful. God kept his word. Jerusalem once again become his chosen city.
I'm itching to get to a couple applications, but our oracle closes with one last verse, Zechariah 2:13:
(13) Be silent, All Flesh, before the face/presence of Yahweh,
because He has roused himself from the dwelling place of his holiness."
God has a home on earth. He also has a home in heaven. And it's from this home, that God rouses himself. He's getting up; He's going into motion. And when that happens, everyone should stop what they're doing, and just be silent. When God's at work, reverence, and awe, is what follows. There's a time to worship loud, and celebrate what God has done. And there's a time when what God does simply leaves you speechless, and completely overwhelmed.
Let me leave you today with three thoughts [I might skip the third, but I'll write about it at least]. The first two will mostly build off the vision of the man with the measuring line. The last, is about fleeing from Babylon.
(1) It's easy to hear God's promises, and plans, and respond in ways that are too small. Our tendency is to be like the man with the measuring line, and try to put limits on what God will do. We understand that God is a big, cosmic, global plan. We understand that we are just one small part of what God wants to do. But we should be open to being used in bigger ways, and becoming something bigger. I was at a church once, where the pastor understood that Jesus gives each of us a ministry. There's something that Jesus has given each of us to do, to build up the church. And some of us are called to build up the church by evangelism, in some form or another. Right? We are called to reach out to the lost, and for some of us, that's the central part of their own individual calling. At this one church, a woman approaches the pastor, and she wanted to start a ministry at the church during the week that revolved around yoga. Maybe that freaks some people out a little, because yoga can be pretty new age if it's done a certain way. But this woman had a vision of what could be-- of non-Christians who were far from God, but interested in yoga, being drawn to God through yoga. And the pastor said yes. Sure, find a room, talk about it during the morning announcements, put it in the bulletin. Gave her a key for the building.
Whenever new ministries are proposed, the temptation is to build a wall, and say "no." It's different, so we shouldn't do it. But God's vision for Jerusalem was different. It was bigger. The city was going to look different than it always had. And so the people's expectations needed to change, to match that. And when newer, younger voices in the church want to do something different, or bring in something new, the gray and balding heads should be open to the possibility that God is doing a new thing.
(2) The other thing that's really easy to do, as a church, is decide at a certain point that we are big enough. In some churches, newcomers are welcomed with total delight. They are warmly welcomed, and everyone goes out of their way to say "hi," and make them feel at home. But when churches reach a certain point, it's easy for that to stop happening. We have enough people to keep the lights on, and the roof from leaking. We have enough to have acceptably sized Sunday school classes. And we have someone who cares about us, and is happy to talk with us. Once we have those things, it's easy to lose that sense of welcome, and openness. At a certain point, we have what we want and need.
But God's plans have always involved a flood of people, and that flood includes people who are not like us. People who have had no relationship with God, who have been far from God, who are unpolished, and rough. We have to resist the urge to build church walls, in places where God does not. A church that doesn't celebrate new people coming (Zechariah 2:10), and rejoice, is a church that's pivoting away from what God wants, and toward its own slow, inevitable decline.
So, to sum it up, I'd encourage you: Be open to the possibility that God's vision for his church is bigger than what you think. Be open to the possibility that when your brothers and sisters in Christ propose something new, that they do so as Jesus has called them. Be open to the possibility that God will make this church into something big. Celebrate newcomers.
(3) The third thought I want to leave you with, is in some ways less obviously practical, but will make you better readers of the Bible. My goal today, in part, is to make the Bible nerds happy.
In Zechariah 2:6, God's exiled people who have chosen, at this point, not to return, are told to flee from the land of the north. Flee from Babylon, basically. You see that? "Flee!"
God's judgment is coming on Babylon, and you don't want any part of that heat.
Now, let's turn to Revelation 18:4-8 (NIV no reason). This is a passage that we are supposed to hear, as being addressed to the church-- to us:
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:
“‘Come out of her, my people,’[b]
so that you will not share in her sins,
so that you will not receive any of her plagues;
5 for her sins are piled up to heaven,
and God has remembered her crimes.
6 Give back to her as she has given;
pay her back double for what she has done.
Pour her a double portion from her own cup.
7 Give her as much torment and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
‘I sit enthroned as queen.
I am not a widow;[c]
I will never mourn.’
8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
In the book of Revelation, Babylon is a symbol for every human empire that sets itself against God and God's people (Revelation 13:7), and which focuses on worldly things, without regard for the human cost (Revelation 18-19). A Babylon, is a nation that's been turned by satan into an evil empire (Revelation 13:1-10). There's a famous skit that depicts German soldiers in WW II who suddenly find themselves wrestling with whether or not they are the baddies. All along, they've assumed they were doing the right thing, and fighting for the right side. They suddenly wonder, is that actually true? It's supposed to be funny, and in some ways it is. But no one tells you when the empire you live in, is in the wrong. Every empire creates propaganda telling you, "We are the good guys, doing the right thing. Serve your country; fall in line behind your leader" (=the second beast, Revelation 13:11-17).
The end result of all of this is that God's people find themselves in a very difficult spot. In Revelation, the idea is that we all live in Babylon. And we are supposed to come out of her, so that we don't fall under God's judgment. In the first century, Babylon was Rome. But there are many Babylons, and we all are supposed to wrestle with whether or not our own country is another Babylon.
What does it mean, for us to come out of Babylon (Revelation 18:4)? In some ways, there's no way to physically escape. It's not like in Zechariah's time, where the call to leave Babylon, and come to Jerusalem, was a literal, straightforward call, to leave their homes, and gardens, and return to the promised land.
For us, leaving Babylon is about leaving behind the values of Babylon, and the lifestyle of Babylon. We will not participate in the things that corrupt the earth (Revelation 19:2)-- that twist the earth into something God never intended. We will show respect to our government leaders, but we will not bow down and worship them, or any other god (Revelation 13:14-16). We will remember that our true home is the heavenly Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2). We will walk in white, doing the right thing. We will not be cowardly, or unfaithful, or crude, or murderers, or sexually immoral, or idolaters, or liars. We will not practice magic (Revelation 21:8). We may live in Babylon, but we will not live like Babylon, because we know God has called us to something much higher, and because we know that there is still another judgment on Babylon that's coming. And if that's not actually how we've been living, Revelation encourages us to fix that, right now. Flee from Babylon, because God's judgment is coming.
Translation:
(1) and I lifted my eyes,
and I saw,
and LOOK! A man!,
and in his hand, a measuring line!,
(2) and I said,
"To where [are] you going?,"
and he said to me,
"To measure Jerusalem: to see what [is] its breadth, and what is its length,"
(3) and LOOK! The angel/messenger-- the one speaking with me-- was coming out,
while another messenger was coming out to meet (Genesis 33:4) him,
(4) and he (=the interpreting angel) said to him (=to this other, third angel that was meeting him),
"Run! Speak to that young man (=to the first "man"), saying,
'Rural/open country, Jerusalem shall dwell/live [like],
because of the multitude of humans and domestic animals in its midst,
(5) while I will be for it-- utterance of Yahweh-- a wall of fire surrounding,
while for [its] glory I will be in its midst.
(6) "Hey! Hey!
Flee (2nd person plural) from the Land of the North-- utterance of Yahweh.
Surely, like the four windows of the heavens, I have scattered you-- utterance of Yahweh.
(7) Hey!, Zion, escape!-- [you who are] the dweller of the daughter of Babylon!,
(8) because thus has said Yahweh of Armies:
'After Glory has sent me to the nations-- the ones plundering you--
because the one touching/harming you [is] touching/harming the pupil of his eye--
(9) surely, LOOK! I am about to lift my hand against them, [for "lifting his hand against," see Isaiah 11:15; 19:16; idiom is used positively in 2 Kings 5:11, but there with a different preposition, "el" not "al"]
and they will become plunder for their own servants,
and/that you (plural) will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me!"
(10) Sing (2nd fem. singular), and rejoice, Daughter Zion!,
because LOOK! I am coming!,
and I will dwell in your midst-- utterance of Yahweh,
(11) and many nations will be joined/attached to Yahweh in that day,
and they will become for me a people/family (Lev. 21:4),
and I will dwell in your midst,
and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you,
(12) and Yahweh will take possession of Judah-- his portion-- upon the land of holiness,
and He will choose again Jerusalem.
(13) Be silent, All Flesh, before the face/presence of Yahweh,
because He has roused himself from the dwelling place of his holiness."
