Zechariah 2 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

I looked up again, and there was a man with a measuring cord in his hand.

I said, "Where are you going?" He said, "To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide she is and how long."

Then the messenger who was talking with me stepped forward, and another messenger came out to meet him

and said to him, "Run and tell that young man: Jerusalem will be lived in like open country, no walls at all, because of the crowds of people and animals inside her."

"And I myself will be a wall of fire around her, declares Yahweh, and I will be the weight of her glory inside her."

Hey! Hey! Get out of the land of the north, declares Yahweh, because I scattered you to the four winds of the sky, declares Yahweh.

Hey, Zion! Get yourself out, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.

For this is what Yahweh who commands armies says. After his glory he sent me to the nations who stripped you bare, because whoever touches you is touching the pupil of his eye.

Watch me raise my hand against them, and they will end up as plunder for the slaves they once owned. Then you will know that Yahweh who commands armies sent me.

Sing, daughter of Zion, and be glad, because I am on my way, and I will move in and live among you, declares Yahweh.

Many nations will attach themselves to Yahweh on that day and become my people, and I will live among you, and you will know that Yahweh who commands armies is the one who sent me to you.

Yahweh will take Judah as his own share of land, there on the ground that belongs to him, and he will choose Jerusalem again.

Hush, every living thing, in front of Yahweh, because he has stirred and come out of the place he lives, the place kept for him alone.