And there are two olive trees by it: Olive trees were and are very common in the Holy Land. Their fruit can be crushed to produce oil, which was used both as fuel for lamps, and for other purposes. The presence of olive trees near the lampstand suggests that they represent a source of fuel (compare verse 12). Once again, the word it is ambiguous. It may refer to the lampstand or to the bowl. The direct mention of the bowl in the second half of the verse suggests that it in the first half refers to the bowl. But the bowl as the functional part stands for the lampstand as a whole, so there is no real difference in meaning. For comments on olive trees, see the notes on Hag 2.19. There is no reason to suppose, as some commentators have done, that the olive trees were made of gold.

One on the right of the bowl and the other on its left: In some languages it may be better style to follow the example of Good News Translation and say “one on each side of it.” Or else translators could follow the model of Contemporary English Version for the whole verse: “One olive tree is on the right side and another on the left of the oil container.”

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .