4:1 VA YASHAV HA MAL'ACH HA DOVER BI VA YE'IYRENI KE ISH ASHER YE'OR MISHNATO
וַיָּשָׁב הַמַּלְאָךְ הַדֹּבֵר בִּי וַיְעִירֵנִי כְּאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר יֵעוֹר מִשְּׁנָתוֹ
KJ (King James translation): And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,
BN (BibleNet translation): Then the messenger who had spoken inside me came again, and woke me, like a man who is woken out of sleep.
YE'OR: This word reverberates with me, but I'm not sure why. The river Nile is Ha Ye'or (Genesis 41:1, Exodus 1:22 et al), but it surely can't be that. Or maybe I'm just procrastinating, delaying, trying to avoid, what needs to be said: that talking to the deity is prayer, but hearing the deity answer is schizophrenia. Hopefully Zechar-Yah means all of this metaphorically, and does not expect us to take it literally.
MISHNATO: This reverberates too, though whether he is playing aurally with SHANAH (שָׁנָה) for the year, and/or MISHNAH (מִשְׁנָה) for the learning, is not apparent. SHEYNAH (שינה) is definitely "sleep".
4:2 VA YO'MER ELAI MAH ATAH RO'EH VA YO'MER RA'IYTI VE HINEH MENORAT ZAHAV KULAH VE GULAH AL RO'SHAH VE SHIV'AH NEROTEYHA ALEYHA SHIV'AH VE SHIV'AH MUTSAKOT LA NEROT ASHER AL RO'SHA
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי מָה אַתָּה רֹאֶה וַיֹאמֶר רָאִיתִי וְהִנֵּה מְנוֹרַת זָהָב כֻּלָּהּ וְגֻלָּהּ עַל רֹאשָׁהּ וְשִׁבְעָה נֵרֹתֶיהָ עָלֶיהָ שִׁבְעָה וְשִׁבְעָה מוּצָקוֹת לַנֵּרוֹת אֲשֶׁר עַל רֹאשָׁהּ
KJ: And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
BN: And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I looked, and, behold, a candlestick made entirely of gold, but with its bowl on the top, and its seven lamps placed on the bowl, and seven sets of seven pipes [for pouring oil] into each of the lamps, likewise on the top...
RO'EH...RA'IYTI: The first, the question, in the present tense, but the second, the reply, in the past tense; so he must have seen it while he was asleep.
MENORAT: Rather more explicitly now, the same Menorah that we met in the previous chapter (verse 9), the "seven eyes" of the seven planetary deities, illuminating the Solomonic Temple, but not yet the rebuilt one.
MUTSAKOT: The root is YATSAK = "to pour", and probably it was a foreign word adopted by Yehudit; it is used in Job on several occasions (36:16, 37:10) but as the opposite of RACHAV, and therefore meaning "narrow" - the inference being that it is the tube through which the pouring is done (these being oil-lamps), rather than the act of pouring, which MUTSAKOT is intended to convey.
SHIV'AH SHIVAH: One more seven than the KJ has translated. But is it seven times seven, or seven by seven? Logic says the latter, each container needing to be refilled each day, and each day having its own pipe-source.
4:3 U SHENAYIM ZEYTIM ALEYHA ECHAD MIYMIN HA GULAH VE ECHAD AL SEM'OLAH
וּשְׁנַיִם זֵיתִים עָלֶיהָ אֶחָד מִימִין הַגֻּלָּה וְאֶחָד עַל שְׂמֹאלָהּ
KJ: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
BN: And two olive-trees on top of it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left.
Is he describing what would actually be placed in the Temple, or imagining his personal architectural plan for what he thinks should be there? Or possibility three, given that we are supposedly four years from the dedication ceremony, giving a preview to the listening public of what they can expect to see when it opens. But go back to my note on the sycamore in 3:10, and it would seem that the Yehudan olive trees may well be replacing the Egyptian sycamores, not as the entrance pillars to the Temple, which will be in stone, but here, on the holy vessel of anointment atop the Menorah.
The answer to the above lies in verses 11 to 14, below.
4:4 VA A'AN VA OMAR EL HA MAL'ACH HA DOVER BI LE'MOR MAH ELEH ADONI
וָאַעַן וָאֹמַר אֶל הַמַּלְאָךְ הַדֹּבֵר בִּי לֵאמֹר מָה אֵלֶּה אֲדֹנִי
KJ: So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
BN: Then I answered, saying to the messenger who was speaking inside me, "What are these, my Lord?".
What was the intellectual capacity of his audience? Returning from captivity in Bavel (Babylon), possibly knowing very little Yehudit because they have been forced to speak Aramaic, and latterly Farsi, denied any kind of "Yehudit" education, and probably any other kind of education ditto? It is a possible scenario, though hints in various texts suggest that the priesthood at least managed to maintain the faith and the training, albeit in secret during the Babylonian half-century of captivity. I ask because Zechar-Yah is presenting this to them like the Piagetian frescos of mediaeval Catholic churches, simplistic stories with strong visual imagery that allow him to describe each item piece by piece, and add a moral sermon as and when he feels the inclination.
4:5 VA YA'AN HA MAL'ACH HA DOVER BI VA YO'MER ELAI HA LO YADA'TA MAH HEMAH ELEH VA OMAR LO ADONI
וַיַּעַן הַמַּלְאָךְ הַדֹּבֵר בִּי וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי הֲלוֹא יָדַעְתָּ מָה הֵמָּה אֵלֶּה וָאֹמַר לֹא אֲדֹנִי
KJ: Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
BN: Then the messenger who was speaking inside me answered, and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my Lord".
4:6 VA YA'AN VA YO'MER ELAI ZEH DEVAR YHVH EL ZERU-BAVEL LE'MOR LO VE CHAYIL VE LO VE CHO'ACH KI IM BE RUCHI AMAR YHVH TSEVA'OT
וַיַּעַן וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי לֵאמֹר זֶה דְּבַר יְהוָה אֶל זְרֻבָּבֶל לֵאמֹר לֹא בְחַיִל וְלֹא בְכֹחַ כִּי אִם בְּרוּחִי אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת
KJ: Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
BN: Then he answered, and spoke to me, saying, "This is the word of YHVH to Zeru-Bavel, saying, 'Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit,' says YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens...
LO VE CHAYIL LO VE CHO'ACH: Now there is a phrase that should have entered the language and become a cliché of predictable proportions by our time. But all it does is make me think of MI VA EYSH U MI VA MAYIM in the Yom Kippur liturgy, for no other reason than a similarity of form and rhythm.
The message nonetheless is loud and clear: we will not re-establish the Messianic kingdom of Yehudah by force, but only by being - I am quoting Isaiah here (49:6), though Zechar-Yah does not, except by the allusion of the light from the Menorah - a moral light to the nations.
4:7 MI ATAH HAR HA GADOL LIPHNEY ZERU-BAVEL LE MIYSHOR VE HOTS'IY ET HA EVEN HA RO'SHAH TESHU'OT CHEN CHEN LAH
מִי אַתָּה הַר הַגָּדוֹל לִפְנֵי זְרֻבָּבֶל לְמִישֹׁר וְהוֹצִיא אֶת הָאֶבֶן הָרֹאשָׁה תְּשֻׁאוֹת חֵן חֵן לָהּ
KJ: Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
BN: Who are you, highest of all mountains? Before Zeru-Bavel you shall become a plain. And he will bring the foundation stone with loud chantings of Grace, Grace, to it.
EVEN HA RO'SHAH: As in Rosh Pinah from the Hallel Psalm (118), and of course it is Hallel that is being alluded to when the chanting of "Chen, Chen" starts (the "Ch" as in "loch" please). See my note at Zechariah 3:9, which prefigures this verse.
HAR HA GADOL: As the Chief Priest is KOHEN HA GADOL, so the mountain here is HAR HA GADOL, and therefore not just any "great mountain", not even the "Everest among mountains", but Yehudan Valhalla, Yehudan Olympus - which turns out not to be Sinai or Chorev at all, but Tsi'on.
pey break
4:8 VA YEHI DEVAR YHVH ELAI LE'MOR
וַיְהִי דְבַר יְהוָה אֵלַי לֵאמֹר
KJ: Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
BN: Then the word of YHVH came to me, saying,
DEVAR YHVH: What is the difference between this and the messenger speaking inside him? Are they just two ways of saying the same thing? Does one happen asleep and the other awake? Is one the outcome of inner thought, but the other a consequence of deciphering the horoscope? (I ask, because I honestly do not know, but assume that there must be nuances of this kind in the esoteric world of oracular prophesying).
4:9 YEDEY ZERU-BAVEL YISDU HA BAYIT HA ZEH VE YADAV TEVATSA'NAH VE YADA'TA KI YHVH TSEVA'OT SHELACHANI ELECHEM
יְדֵי זְרֻבָּבֶל יִסְּדוּ הַבַּיִת הַזֶּה וְיָדָיו תְּבַצַּעְנָה וְיָדַעְתָּ כִּי יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת שְׁלָחַנִי אֲלֵכֶם
KJ: The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
BN: The hands of Zeru-Bavel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it, and you shall know that YHVH, the Lord of the Hosts of the Heavens has sent me to you.
YISDU: As with verse 7, see my note to the stone in the previous chapter, verse 9. Then see the next verse. However much Zechar-Yah may be calling for repentance, he also knows that a fuller commitment to Mosaic law among the common people requires the visible and palpable role-modeling of the leaders, both spiritual and secular, and therefore he needs the Kohen Gadol in full regalia, and the Temple built and in full function. "Build it and they will come" as someone more modern once said about his own field of dreams.
4:10 KI MI VAZ LE YOM KETANOT VE SAMCHU VE RA'U ET HA EVEN HA BEDIL BE YAD ZERU-BAVEL SHIV'AH ELEH EYNEY YHVH HEMAH MESHOTETIM BE CHOL HA ARETS
כִּי מִי בַז לְיוֹם קְטַנּוֹת וְשָׂמְחוּ וְרָאוּ אֶת הָאֶבֶן הַבְּדִיל בְּיַד זְרֻבָּבֶל שִׁבְעָה אֵלֶּה עֵינֵי יְהוָה הֵמָּה מְשׁוֹטְטִים בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ
KJ: For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
BN: For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the stone in the hand of Zeru-Bavel. These are the eyes of YHVH, which run to and fro through the whole Earth.
YOM KETANOT: Arundati Roy called one of her novels "The God of Small Things"; was she referencing this, or something else that Z is also referencing? Various interpretations at this link, but the concensus seems to be that it was the rather small size of the Second Temple, compared with that of the First - a problematic explanation for me, because the First Temple, based on the descriptions in the books of Kings and Chronicles (click here for the detail), was itself rather more a village chapel than a city cathedral.
Word-order in this verse is extremely problematic.
VAZ: BAZ as a noun means "spoil" or "prey". There are actually two verbs that could be intended: BAZ'A with an Aleph and BAZAH with a Hey - whichever it is, the final letter has been removed here. BAZ'A (בזא) means "to divide", usually by cutting the object into pieces (cf Isaiah 18:2), where BAZAH (בזה) means "to despise", in the sense of "making light of..." - except that translating it as "making light" would be the precise opposite of Zechar-Yah's intent here! The likelihood is that both verbs are intended, a statement I make because Ezra 9:7 and Nehemiah 3:36 both use BIZAH with a Hey to mean "prey" or "spoil", suggesting that the two verbs had somehow become reduced to one (in the way that "story" and "storey" and "kerb" and "curb" have in American English), and elsewhere there is also BAZAZ with the same double-meaning of cutting and dividing both the prey and the spoil (eg Ezekiel 39:10). Which of the three is intended then, here, or in Genesis 34:29, Isaiah 10:6, several others?
SHIV'AH ELEH: The seven candles of the Menorah once again.
EYNEY YHVH: Likewise refers back to the previous chapter.
4:11 VA YA'AN VA OMAR ELAV MAH SHENEY HA ZEYTIM HA ELEH AL YEMIN HA MENORAH VE AL SEM'OLAH
וָאַעַן וָאֹמַר אֵלָיו מַה שְּׁנֵי הַזֵּיתִים הָאֵלֶה עַל יְמִין הַמְּנוֹרָה וְעַל שְׂמֹאולָהּ
KJ: Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
BN: Then I answered, saying to him, "What are these two olive-trees on the right side of the candlestick, and on its left side as well?"
Picking up the vision of verse 3.
4:12 VA A'AN SHENIT VA OMAR ELAV MAH SHETEY SHIBALEY HA ZEYTIM ASHER BE YAD SHENEY TSANTEROT HA ZAHAV HA MERIYKIM ME ALEYHEM HA ZAHAV
וָאַעַן שֵׁנִית וָאֹמַר אֵלָיו מַה שְׁתֵּי שִׁבֲּלֵי הַזֵּיתִים אֲשֶׁר בְּיַד שְׁנֵי צַנְתְּרוֹת הַזָּהָב הַמְרִיקִים מֵעֲלֵיהֶם הַזָּהָב
KJ: 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?
BN: Then I answered him a second time, saying to him, "What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, from which the golden oil is poured out?"
These did not get mentioned at verse 3.
4:13 VA YO'MER ELAI LE'MOR HA LO YADA'TA MAH ELEH VA OMAR LO ADONI
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי לֵאמֹר הֲלוֹא יָדַעְתָּ מָה אֵלֶּה וָאֹמַר לֹא אֲדֹנִי
KJ: And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
BN: And he answered me, saying, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my Lord".
Kindergarten teaching methodology. We think of the Prophets as stern and puritanical, but this one has his deity say please, and his messenger and his Adversary stand side by side without squabbling, and he does teacher's questions in a way that would be loved by the assembled littluns.
4:14 VA YO'MER ELEH SHENEY VENEY HA YITS'HAR HA OMDIM AL ADON KOL HA ARETS
וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלֶּה שְׁנֵי בְנֵי הַיִּצְהָר הָעֹמְדִים עַל אֲדוֹן כָּל הָאָרֶץ
KJ: Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
BN: Then he said, These are the two anointed ones, who stand by the Lord of the whole Earth.
The Kohen Gadol and the secular leader, Yehoshu'a ben Yeho-Tsadak and Zeru-Bavel.
The Kohen Gadol and the secular leader, Yehoshu'a ben Yeho-Tsadak and Zeru-Bavel.
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