Zechariah 4:5

5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."

Zechariah 4:5 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 4:5

Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto
me
Either to upbraid him with his ignorance and stupidity; or rather to quicken his attention, and that of others, to the interpretation of it he was about to give him: Knowest thou not what these be?
art thou ignorant of the design of them? or knowest thou not what is meant by them? and I said, No, my lord;
he made an ingenuous confession of his ignorance, joined with great respect unto, and veneration of, the angel that conversed with him.

Zechariah 4:5 In-Context

3 And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."
4 I said to 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?" I said, "No, my lord."
6 He said to me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts.
7 What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of "Grace, grace to it!' "
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.