The cumulative effect of the visions is very great. All that hinders the coming of the Messianic days is to be removed, whether it be the great alien world powers or the sinners within Jerusalem itself. The purified city will be blessed with prosperity of every kind, and over her civil and religious affairs will be two leaders, who enjoy a unique measure of the divine favour. In an appendix to the visions vi. 9-15, Zechariah is divinely commissioned to make a crown for Zerubbabel (or for him and Joshua)[1] out of the gold and silver brought by emissaries of the Babylonian Jews, and the hope is expressed that peace will prevail between the leaders--a hope through which we may perhaps read a growing rivalry. [Footnote 1: It seems practically certain that the original prophecy in _v_. 11 has been subsequently modified, doubtless because it was not fulfilled. The last clause of _v_. 13--"the counsel of peace shall be between them _both"_--shows that two persons have just been mentioned. The preceding clause must therefore be translated, not as in A. V. and R. V., "and _he_ shall be a priest upon his throne," as if the office of king and priest were to be combined in a single person, but "and _there_ shall be" (or, as Wellhausen suggests, "and _Joshua_ shall be") "a priest upon his throne," (or no doubt more correctly, with the Septuagint, "a priest _at his right hand_"). As two persons are involved, and the word "crowns" in v. 11 is in the plural, it has been supposed that the verse originally read, "set the crowns _upon the head of Zerubbabel and_ upon the head of Joshua." On the other hand, in _v_. 14 the word "crown" must be read in the singular, and should probably also be so read in _v_. 11 (though even the plural could refer to one crown). In that case, if there be but one crown, who wears it? Undoubtedly Zerubbabel: he is the Branch, iii. 8, and the Branch is the Davidic king (Jer. xxiii. 5, xxxiii. 15). The building of the temple here assigned to the Branch, vi. 12, is elsewhere expressly assigned to Zerubbabel, iv. 9. It is, therefore, he who is crowned: in other words, v. 11, may have originally read, "set it _upon the head of Zerubbabel._" Whether we accept this solution or the other, it seems certain that the original prophecy contemplated the crowning of Zerubbabel. As the hopes that centred upon Zerubbabel were never fulfilled, the passage was subsequently modified to its present form.]