Zechariah 4:12

And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold pipes from which the golden oil pours?”

BSB

Parallel translations

4 additional translations

▾

KJV

And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

ASV

And I answered the second time, and said unto him, What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty the golden oil out of themselves?

YLT

And I answer a second time, and say unto him, `What are the two branches of the olive trees that, by means of the two golden pipes, are emptying out of themselves the oil?'

DBT

And I answered the second time and said unto him, What are the two olive-branches which are beside the two golden tubes that empty the gold out of themselves?

⋯

Commentary voices

loading…

Voices5

On this verse

And I answered again, and said unto him,....

John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed

Related commentary

(Verse 11 and following) And I answered and said to him, 'What are these two olive trees on the right and the left side of the lampstand?' And I answered the second time and said to him, 'What are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden pipes, from which the golden oil pours out?' And he said to me, 'Do you not know what these are?' And I said, 'No, my lord.' And he said, 'These are the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.'

Jerome· Commentary on Zechariah, 420patristic

What are the two spikes of the olive? - Comparing the extreme branches of the olive-tree, laden with their fruit, to the ears of corn, which were by or in the hand of the golden pipes, which empty forth the golden oil from themselves. Zechariahs expression, in the hand of or, if so be, by the hand of the two pipes, shows that these two were symbols of living agents, for it is nowhere, used except of a living agent, or of that which it personified as such.

Albert Barnes· Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)evangelical

Through the pipes - These were fastened to the bowl, on each side one, with a hole through the sides of the bowl, to let the oil that distilled from those olive-branches run into the bowl. Out of themselves - An emblem of supernatural grace; these branches filled from the true olive-tree, ever empty themselves, and are ever full; so are the gospel-ordinances.

John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765evangelical

When we enquire concerning the grace of God, it must be rather as it is communicated to us by the fruitful boughs of the word and ordinances (for that is one of the things revealed, which belong to us and to our children ) than as it is resident in the good olive where all our springs are, for that is one of the secret things, which belong not to us.

Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan

Voices on this verse

loading…

Cross-references

6 linked verses

The verses this one reaches6

Matthew 20:23
“You will indeed drink My cup,” Jesus said. “But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom My Father has prepared them.”
Revelation 11:4
These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
Genesis 8:11
And behold, the dove returned to him in the evening with a freshly plucked olive leaf in her beak. So Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth.
Ezekiel 17:22
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘I will take a shoot from the lofty top of the cedar, and I will set it out. I will pluck a tender sprig from its topmost shoots, and I will plant it on a high and lofty mountain.
Zechariah 4:4
“What are these, my lord?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me.
Haggai 1:1
In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the LORD came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating

Cross-references

loading…

The quotation web

loading…

Around this verse

Word doors

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

About this book

Zechariah's Vision of Four Chariots — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

Zechariah — Contemporary of Haggai — but longer, stranger, and more explicitly Messianic. Eight night visions, a royal-priestly crown, Zion's king riding on a donkey, and the pierced one they shall look upon.

Canon: Old Testament
Author: Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo (1:1) — priest and prophet of the return
Date: Began 520 BC, contemporary with Haggai; later oracles (ch. 9–14) may date to the later 5th c. BC

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
Revelation 11:4
These witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.
leads to
- Zechariah 4:11–14
  Then I asked the angel, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”
- Zechariah 4:2–3
  “What do you see?” he asked. “I see a solid gold lampstand,” I replied, “with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven spouts to the lamps.
- Jeremiah 11:16
  The LORD once called you a flourishing olive tree, beautiful with well-formed fruit. But with a mighty roar He will set it on fire, and its branches will be consumed.
Through
Matthew 20:23
“You will indeed drink My cup,” Jesus said. “But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom My Father has prepared them.”
leads to
- Mark 10:40
  But to sit at My right or left is not Mine to grant. These seats belong to those for whom they have been prepared.”
- Revelation 1:9
  I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance that are in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and my testimony about Jesus.
- Matthew 25:34
  Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
- Acts 12:2
  He had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword.
- 2 Timothy 2:11–12

The whole web at once: see the Arc.

Where the connections lead

loading…

Continue: Zechariah 4 →