I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
Parallel translations
- KJV So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
- BSB “What are these, my lord?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me.
- NKJV So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
- NASB Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
- NLT Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my lord? What do they mean?”
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
Zechariah asks the interpreting angel what these things mean. He humbly seeks understanding rather than presuming.
Overview
Once again the prophet does not assume he grasps the vision but asks for explanation. This humility before God's symbolic revelation models the right posture toward Scripture's deeper meaning. It reminds us that spiritual understanding is received as a gift from God, not manufactured by human cleverness.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Matt 13:36Then Jesus sent the multitudes away, and went into the house. His disciples came to him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the darnel weeds of the field.”
- Zech 1:9Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”
- Zech 6:4Then I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
- Dan 12:8I heard, but I didn’t understand: then I said, my lord, what shall be the issue of these things?
- Zech 1:19I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
- Zech 5:6I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land
- Zech 4:12–14I asked him the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”
- Dan 7:16–19I came near to one of those who stood by, and asked him the truth concerning all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.
- Rev 7:13–14One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 4:4 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.