HisFullGloryOpen the app
Menu

Zechariah 3

1 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the LORD’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.

2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Yes, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”

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

4 He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”

5 I said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.” So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and the LORD’s angel was standing by.

6 The LORD’s angel solemnly assured Joshua, saying,

7 “The LORD of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by.

8 Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign; for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch.

9 For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua: on one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

10 In that day,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

Around Zechariah 3

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Zechariah as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

The same returned community that heard Haggai hears Zechariah. His first message is an invitation: “Return to me,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. Then come the visions, eight of them, seen at night. A man on a red horse among myrtle trees. Four horns, and four craftsmen coming to cast them down. Behind them stands a promise that the LORD has returned to Jerusalem with mercy. The first part of the book (chapters 1 to 8) promises God’s return to Jerusalem and calls for justice and mercy.

The second part (9 to 14) is harder to place. Its first great cry is a call to joy: “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!” The king who comes is righteous and having salvation, “lowly, and riding on a donkey,” even on a colt. The chapters go on to speak of a shepherd who is struck, of one who is pierced and mourned, and of a day when the LORD will be king over all the earth.

Background

The dated messages fall between 520 and 518 before Christ. Many scholars think chapters 9 to 14 come from a later time. Others hold that Zechariah wrote the whole book. The question is still open, and readers who take Scripture seriously stand on both sides of it. The prophet is called the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, in the opening lines.

How Christians read it

The Gospels quote Zechariah repeatedly in telling of Jesus’ last week: the entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, the thirty pieces of silver, the scattered sheep and the pierced one. Christians differ on how much of the final chapters still lies ahead. Some read them mostly as pictures already fulfilled, and others look for more. How the book is read depends in part on how its two halves are related.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 21 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

Report a mistake

CommunityVoices, not sources

Readers share what this chapter means to them in the app.

See what readers say about Zechariah 3
Read Zechariah 3 in the app

World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes