Bible Strands
Zechariah 3:8
Hear now, O high priest Joshua, you and your companions seated before you, who are indeed a sign. For behold, I am going to bring My servant, the Branch.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD of Hosts addresses the high priest Joshua and his seated companions in a vision, sandwiched between a conditional promise of governance (v.7) and a description of an engraved stone (v.9).
The words — עֵץ (ʿēṣ), "Branch," is a generic word for a shoot or cutting from a tree, here used as a title for a coming figure. אֹת (ʾōṯ), "sign," is a token or pledge that points beyond itself to what it represents.
The thread — The same title runs through Isaiah 11:1 (a Branch from the roots of Jesse), Jeremiah 23:5 (a righteous Branch raised up for David), and Zechariah 6:12 (a man whose name is the Branch who will build the temple).
Why it lands — Joshua and his companions are called a "sign," which means they are not the thing itself but a pointer to the Branch who is to come. The verse asks the reader to hold the provisional and the definitive in the same frame: the present priest is a sign, the Branch is the reality.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Cross-references
- Isaiah 11:1 Then a shoot will spring up from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots will bear fruit.
- Jeremiah 23:5 Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
- Zechariah 6:12 And you are to tell him that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Here is a man whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD.
- Isaiah 42:1 “Here is My Servant, whom I uphold, My Chosen One, in whom My soul delights. I will put My Spirit on Him, and He will bring justice to the nations.
- Isaiah 53:2 He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.
- Jeremiah 33:15 In those days and at that time I will cause to sprout for David a righteous Branch, and He will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
- Isaiah 4:2 On that day the Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the pride and glory of Israel’s survivors.
- Isaiah 20:3 Then the LORD said, “Just as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and omen against Egypt and Cush,
- Isaiah 8:18 Here am I, and the children the LORD has given me as signs and symbols in Israel from the LORD of Hosts, who dwells on Mount Zion.
- Isaiah 49:5 And now says the LORD, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him—for I am honored in the sight of the LORD, and My God is My strength—