Zechariah 3 (ASV)

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Chapter Text

3:1 And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.

3:2 And Jehovah said unto Satan, Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan; yea, Jehovah that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

3:3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel.

3:4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take the filthy garments from off him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel.

3:5 And I said, Let them set a clean mitre upon his head. So they set a clean mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments; and the angel of Jehovah was standing by.

3:6 And the angel of Jehovah protested unto Joshua, saying,

3:7 Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou also shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee a place of access among these that stand by.

3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee; for they are men that are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch.

3:9 For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; upon one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

3:10 In that day, saith Jehovah of hosts, shall ye invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig-tree.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "showed", "joshua", "high", "priest", "standing", "before", "angel", and "jehovah". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "showed" and "joshua", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The local ASV text gives this verse as the immediate unit, so "showed" and "joshua" carries the first interpretive weight. In Zechariah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "showed" and "joshua" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.