Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

Then the angel of the Lord said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You have no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant these seventy years?”

So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.

Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?”

So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”

For who has despised the day of small things? But these seven will be glad when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel—these are the eyes of the Lord which range to and fro throughout the earth.”

Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?”

So he answered me, saying, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”

Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.”

Then I spoke and said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel replied to me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth after standing before the Lord of all the earth,

speaking to the priests who belong to the house of the Lord of hosts, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the fifth month and abstain, as I have done these many years?”

“Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted?

Are not these the words which the Lord proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous along with its cities around it, and the Negev and the foothills were inhabited?’”

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Let your hands be strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, to the end that the temple might be built.

‘For there will be peace for the seed: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.

so I have again purposed in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Do not fear!

These are the things which you should do: speak the truth to one another; judge with truth and judgment for peace in your gates.

Also let none of you devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love perjury; for all these are what I hate,’ declares the Lord.”

And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’