Then the Lord showed me four blacksmiths.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh showed me four craftsmen.
- KJV And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.
- BSB Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
- NKJV Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.
- NASB Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.
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
God shows Zechariah four craftsmen. They are sent to counter the four destructive horns.
Overview
The 'craftsmen' (smiths or workmen) are agents God raises to oppose the hostile powers. Their number matches the four horns, signaling a fitting answer to every oppressor. The vision teaches that for every force God permits against His people, He has prepared the means to overthrow it in due time.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Zech 10:3–5My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; For Yahweh of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle.
- Zech 9:12–16Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.
- Zech 12:2–6“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling to all the surrounding peoples, and it will also be on Judah in the siege against Jerusalem.
- Neh 9:27Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hands of their adversaries.
- Isa 54:15–17Behold, they may gather together, but not by me. Whoever gathers together against you will fall because of you.
- Obad 1:21Saviors will go up on Mount Zion to judge the mountains of Esau, and the kingdom will be Yahweh’s.
- Mic 5:8–9The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.
- Judg 11:16but when they came up from Egypt, and Israel went through the wilderness to the Red Sea, and came to Kadesh;
- Mic 5:5–6He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight leaders of men.
- Deut 33:25Your bars will be iron and brass. As your days, so your strength will be.
- 1 Sam 12:11Yahweh sent Jerubbaal, Bedan, Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and you lived in safety.
- Judg 11:18Then they went through the wilderness, and went around the land of Edom, and the land of Moab, and came by the east side of the land of Moab, and they encamped on the other side of the Arnon; but they didn’t come within the border of Moab, for the Arnon was the border of Moab.
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 1:20 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.