Commentary on Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah and Malachi John Calvin
Zechariah 2
Zechariah 2:1-4
1. I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.
1. Et sustuli oculos meos et vidi; et ecce vir in ejus manu funiculus mensurae.
2. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.
2. Et dixi, Quo tu vadis? et dixit mihi, Ad metiendum Ierusalem, ut videam quanta latitudo ejus, et quanta longitudo ejus.
3. And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,
3. Et ecce angelus qui loquebatur mecum egressus est, et alter angelus egressus est in occursum ejus;
4. And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein:
4. Et dixit ad eum, Curre, dic puero huic, dicendo, In villis (vel, pagis) habitabitur
Ierusalem prae multitudine hominis et pecoris (id est, honinum et pecorum) in medio ejus.
Added now is another vision for the same end; not that the former was difficult to be understood, but because there was need of confirmation in a state of things so disturbed; for though the return of the people was no common evidence of the goodness and favor of God yet as Jerusalem was not flourishing as formerly, as the temple was like a cottage as there was no form of a kingdom and no grandeur, it was difficult to believe what had been already exhibited. This is the reason why God confirms by many proofs the same thing; for we know how difficult the contest is, owing to the infirmity of the flesh, when grievous and sharp trials assail us.
Hence Zechariah says, that he saw in the hand of a man a measuring line. He calls him a man, who appeared in the form of man; and it is well known, and a common