1. AND THE angel who talked with me came again and awakened me, like a man who is wakened out of his sleep.
2. And said to me, What do you see? I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl [for oil] on the top of it and its seven lamps on it, and [there are] seven pipes to each of the seven lamps which are upon the top of it. [Matt. 5:14, 16; Luke 12:35; Phil. 2:15; Rev. 1:20.]
3. And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it [feeding it continuously with oil]. [Rev. 11:4-13.]
4. So I asked the angel who talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5. Then the angel who talked with me answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
6. Then he said to me, This [addition of the bowl to the candlestick, causing it to yield a ceaseless supply of oil from the olive trees] is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit [of Whom the oil is a symbol], says the Lord of hosts.
7. For who are you, O great mountain [of human obstacles]? Before Zerubbabel [who with Joshua had led the return of the exiles from Babylon and was undertaking the rebuilding of the temple, before him] you shall become a plain [a mere molehill]! And he shall bring forth the finishing gable stone [of the new temple] with loud shoutings of the people, crying, Grace, grace to it! [Ezra 4:1-5, 24; Isa. 40:4.]
8. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
9. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundations of this house; his hands shall also finish it. Then you shall know (recognize and understand) that the Lord of hosts has sent me [His messenger] to you.
10. Who [with reason] despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice when they see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel. [These seven] are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro throughout the whole earth. [Rev. 5:6.]
11. Then I said to him [the angel who talked with me], What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?
12. And a second time I said to him, What are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden tubes or spouts by which the golden oil is emptied out?
13. And he answered me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
14. Then said he, These are the two sons of oil [Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the prince of Judah, the two anointed ones] who stand before the Lord of the whole earth [as His anointed instruments]. [Rev. 11:4.]