So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Parallel translations
- WEB I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
- KJV And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
- NKJV And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” So he answered me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
- NASB So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
- NLT “What are these?” I asked the angel who was talking with me. He replied, “These horns represent the nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The angel explains the horns are the powers that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. They represent the nations that dispersed God's people.
Overview
The four horns stand for the successive empires and enemies that broke up and exiled God's covenant people. Naming Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem encompasses the whole nation's suffering. The vision validates the people's pain while preparing for the next scene, where God raises up agents to overthrow these very powers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Zech 2:2“Where are you going?” I asked. “To measure Jerusalem,” he replied, “and to determine its width and length.”
- Ezra 4:4Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.
- Zech 1:21“What are these coming to do?” I asked. And He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head; but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations that have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
- Zech 8:14For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Just as I resolved to bring disaster upon you when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the LORD of Hosts,
- Jer 50:17–18Israel is a scattered flock, chased away by lions. The first to devour him was the king of Assyria; the last to crush his bones was Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
- Ezra 4:7And in the days of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his associates wrote a letter to Artaxerxes. It was written in Aramaic and then translated.
- Ezra 4:1When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the LORD, the God of Israel,
- Zech 1:9“What are these, my lord?” I asked. And the angel who was speaking with me replied, “I will show you what they are.”
- Hab 3:14With his own spear You pierced his head, when his warriors stormed out to scatter us, gloating as though ready to secretly devour the weak.
- Rev 7:13–14Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?”
- Ezra 5:3At that time Tattenai the governor of the region west of the Euphrates, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates went to the Jews and asked, “Who authorized you to rebuild this temple and restore this structure?”
- Amos 6:13you who rejoice in Lo-debar and say, ‘Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?’
- Dan 12:7And the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, and times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people has finally been shattered, all these things will be completed.”
- Zech 4:11–14Then I asked the angel, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.
How Zechariah 1:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.