Zechariah 4:5 (LSB)

Passage

So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”

Nearby Context

Zechariah 4:3 also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.”

Zechariah 4:4 Then I answered and said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?”

Zechariah 4:5 So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.”

Zechariah 4:6 Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says Yahweh of hosts.

Zechariah 4:7 ‘What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!”’”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "angel", "speaking", "answered", "said", and "lord". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "angel" and "speaking", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 4's "Then I answered and said to the..." into verse 6's "Then he answered and spoke to me...", so "angel" and "speaking" 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 "angel" and "speaking" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.