Zechariah 4:12 (DBY)

Passage

And I answered the second time and said unto him, What are the two olive-branches which are beside the two golden tubes that empty the gold out of themselves?

Nearby Context

Zechariah 4:10 For who hath despised the day of small things? Yea, they shall rejoice [even] those seven and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel: these are the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro in the whole earth.

Zechariah 4:11 And I answered and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees on the right of the lamp-stand and on its left?

Zechariah 4:12 And I answered the second time and said unto him, What are the two olive-branches which are beside the two golden tubes that empty the gold out of themselves?

Zechariah 4:13 And he spoke to me, saying, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord.

Zechariah 4:14 And he said, These are the two sons of oil, that stand before the Lord of the whole earth.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "answered", "second", "time", "said", "olive-branches", "beside", "golden", and "tubes". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "answered" and "second", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 11's "And I answered and said unto him..." into verse 13's "And he spoke to me saying Knowest...", so "answered" and "second" belong inside that flow. In Zechariah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

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