Zechariah 2:7

"Ho Zion, escape thou that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon."

"Escape thou ..." This is a feeble substitution for the dramatic words of the KJV, "Deliver thyself, O Zion ..."; and one may well question the reason for the change. "Delivering oneself" is a perpetual principle in God's economy of salvation, and the grand imperative of all ages. It found utterance upon the first day of the gospel age when Peter admonished his Pentecostal audience, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation" (Acts 2:40). A way of escape had been provided for the captive people of God, and their homeland was available to them; but whether or not they ever reached it depended upon them. They would have to cut the ties that held them in Babylon and return to Jerusalem. Needless to say, there were many thousands of them that never got around to doing it. In exactly the same manner today, God's grace has provided salvation for all men, but whether or not men receive it depends absolutely upon their response to the divinely imposed terms of the gospel.

"Escape ... from Babylon ..." has a deep spiritual import also, despite the primary application to the Jewish captives in literal Babylon. Babylon stands in all ages for the wicked city of the world, for spiritual darkness and rebellion against God. The Lord's people are perpetually warned to "Come out of her, my people," that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).

The RSV changed the wording of this verse, based upon scholarly opinion that, "Zion is an accusative of direction, and not a vocative."[15] Nevertheless, it is still God's true "Israel," or Zion who was commanded to escape to Zion! The change is a doubtful improvement.