What Does Zechariah 1:9 Mean?
Then I said, My lord, what are these? And the messenger who spoke with me said to me, I will let you see what these are.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.THE KEY
The answer to “What are these?” is sight itself: the messenger makes the vision visible to you.
THE MEANING
You can ask what you are seeing without pretending you already understand it. Understanding unfolds as what is obscure to you becomes visible within the encounter.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Not knowing what you are looking at does not mean its meaning is beyond you; the question remains open to disclosure.
THE ROOT
אַרְאֶךָּ
ʾarʾekha
GROWS FROM
ראה
ra'ah
To see, look at, or perceive.
“let you see” in this verse is ʾarʾekha. The verb is causative: the messenger says, in effect, “I will cause you to see.” The same root forms רֹאֶה (ro’eh, one who sees) and מַרְאֶה (mar’eh, sight or appearance), holding perceiver, seeing, and vision within one family.
ALSO GROWS
ra'ah: To see, look at, perceive.
רָאָה
This is the root’s basic action: the promised showing brings the questioner into seeing.
ro'eh: One who sees; a seer.
רֹאֶה
The one receiving the vision belongs to the same root family as the act of seeing.
mar'eh: A sight, appearance, or vision.
מַרְאֶה
The thing made visible shares the root of the seeing that receives it.
THE PATTERN
When a sight is unclear, disclosure opens perception until what is present can be recognized.
And Elisha prayed and said, LORD, I pray you, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and look, the mountain was filled with horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.Then the LORD uncovered the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the messenger of the LORD standing in the road, his sword drawn in his hand; and he bent his head and bowed down on his face.And their eyes were thrown open, and they recognized him, and he became unseen to them.THE THREAD
And she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, You are El Roi, the God who sees me. For she said, Have I also here looked after the one who sees me?Zechariah’s אַרְאֶךָּ (ʾarʾekha, I will show you) and Hagar’s רֹאִי (ro’i, the one who sees me) both arise from ראה (ra’ah, see). The connection holds both sides of disclosure: you are brought to see, and you are already seen.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us