Zechariah 1:21

he spake i.e. the interpreting angel.

have scattered Rather, scattered, R.V.

to fray them Either the wild animals bearing the horns, or more probably the nations symbolised by them, are here spoken of as being "frayed," or "panic-stricken." In the following word, "to cast out," the figure of the horns is perhaps resumed.

The Third Vision. The man with the measuring line. Zechariah 2:1-13. (Heb., 2:5 17.) The vision which describes the destruction of her enemies is followed by another, in which the consequent growth and prosperity of Jerusalem are depicted, and which in the largeness of its predictions extends into the more distant future. The prophet sees now upon the stage, or field of view, a young man with a measuring line in his hand, Zechariah 1:1. He asks him where he is going, and is answered, that he is going to measure Jerusalem, Zechariah 1:2. Upon this, the interpreting angel quits the prophet's side and "goes forth" upon the stage in pursuit, as it would seem, of the man with the measuring line, to bid him desist from his purpose. As he does so, he is met by another angel, to whom he delegates the errand on which he himself had started, and whom he commissions in the hearing of the prophet (thus fulfilling his office as "interpreter" of the visions, and removing the false impression which the man's answer, Zechariah 1:2, had created) to go and bid the "young man" cease from measuring, because Jerusalem, in its coming populousness and security, should neither admit of nor require walls, Zechariah 1:3-5. The exiles still remaining in Babylon are now summoned to leave her, Zechariah 1:6-7, for God's judgments are about to fall upon her, Zechariah 1:8-9; whereas in Zion, to which they are invited to return, He will dwell, Zechariah 1:10-11, making it again His portion and His choice, Zechariah 1:12, extending its blessings to the Gentiles, Zechariah 1:11, confirming by the happy event the truth of this prediction, Zechariah 1:9; Zechariah 1:11, and manifesting Himself as the Judge of all the earth, Zechariah 1:13.