CHAPTER 2 Dec. 20 
A Man with a Measuring Line in His Hand 
I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2Then I asked, Where are you going?  He said to me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length.   3Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, 4and said to him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. 5For I’, says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her. 6Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north’, says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky’, says Yahweh. 7‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon’. 8For thus says Yahweh of Armies: ‘For honour He has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. 9For, behold, I will shake My hand over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me. 10Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the middle of you’, says Yahweh. 11Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be My people; and I will dwell in the middle of you; and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. 12Yahweh will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 13Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for He has roused Himself from His holy habitation!

Commentary

2:7 God urged the Jews to leave Babylon. But as the book of Esther explains, they were quite comfortable there, Jews were in high places, they didn’t stay weeping by the rivers of Babylon for long; and there’s archaeological evidence they were involved in banking and commerce. But God told them to escape from it- for spiritually, it would kill them. Their position was urgent. But most preferred to remain there, rather than leave it all behind and make the long and uncertain journey to a land in ruins.
2:8 Apple of His eye- The most sensitive spot on the human body. God is so sensitive to us His people; His love for us is so great that He will be highly sensitive to everything done bad to us, and every pain we experience.