Third Vision: The Man with a Measuring Line
2 [a]I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.(A)2 Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”(B)3 Then the angel who spoke with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like unwalled villages because of the multitude of people and animals in it.(C)5 For I will be a wall of fire all around it, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.”(D)
Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles
6 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord, for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord.(E)7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who live with daughter Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.[b](F)9 For I am going to raise[c] my hand against them, and they shall become plunder for their own slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.(G)10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord.(H)11 Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day and shall be my people, and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.(I)
13 Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.(J)