Zechariah 4:13 (DBY)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

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 "spoke", "saying", "knowest", "thou", "said", and "lord". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "spoke" and "saying", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 12's "And I answered the second time and..." into verse 14's "And he said These are the two...", so "spoke" and "saying" 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 "spoke" and "saying" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.