Zechariah 1

1 The Lord sent a message to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, in the eighth month of the second year of king Darius' reign, saying:

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD to Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

2 The Lord was very angry with your forefathers.

The LORD hath been greatly displeased with your fathers.

3 So tell the people this: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.

Therefore say thou to them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye to me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, saith the LORD of hosts.

4 You must not be like your forefathers. They were told by previous prophets: Give up your evil ways, and the evil things you do. But they would not listen or pay any attention to me, says the Lord.

Be ye not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and [from] your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken to me, saith the LORD.

5 Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, did they live forever?

Your fathers, where [are] they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

6 But didn't all my instructions and warnings that I ordered my servants the prophets to communicate, didn't all that I said happen to your forefathers? So they repented and said, “What the Lord Almighty planned to do to us was what we deserved because of our ways and our actions. He did what he said he would.”

But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, As the LORD of hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

7 The Lord sent a message to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat) of the second year of king Darius' reign:

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which [is] the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD to Zechariah, the son of Barachiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

8 During the night I saw a man sitting on a red horse that stood among some myrtle trees in a narrow valley. Behind him were red, brown, and white horses with their riders.

I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that [were] in the bottom; and behind him [were there] red horses, speckled, and white.

9 I asked him, “My lord, what are these?” The angel I was talking to replied, “I will show you.”

Then said I, O my LORD, what [are these]? And the angel that talked with me said to me, I will show thee what these [are].

10 The man who was there among the myrtle trees said, “These are the ones the Lord has sent out to patrol the earth.”

And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These [are they] whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

11 The riders reported to the angel of the Lord who was among the myrtle trees, “We have been patrolling the earth and saw that the whole earth has been pacified.”

And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how long will it be before you have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah which you have been angry with for the past seventy years?”

Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years.

13 So the Lord replied to the angel I was talking to with kind and comforting words.

And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me [with] good words [and] comforting words.

14 Then the angel I was talking with told me, This is what you are to announce. The Lord Almighty says this: I am jealously protective of Jerusalem and Mount Zion,

So the angel that communed with me said to me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

15 and I am extremely angry with the arrogant nations who think they are secure. I was only a little angry with my people, but they made the punishment far worse.

And I am very greatly displeased with the heathen [that are] at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

16 Therefore this is what the Lord says: I have returned to be merciful to Jerusalem. My Temple shall be rebuilt there, as well as the city, declares the Lord Almighty.

Therefore thus saith the LORD; I have returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

17 Announce this as well, says the Lord Almighty: Prosperity will flood out of my cities. I the Lord will comfort Zion, and Jerusalem will be my chosen city.

Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

18 Then I looked and saw four animal horns.

Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

19 “What are these?” I asked the angel I was talking to. “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem,” he replied.

And I said to the angel that talked with me, What [are] these? And he answered me, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

And the LORD showed me four carpenters.

21 “What are these men coming to do?” I asked. The angel replied, “The four horns—these nations—scattered Judah, humbling the people so that they could not lift up their heads. These craftsmen have to come to terrify these nations, and to destroy them—those who used their power against the land of Judah, scattering the people.”

Then said I, What come these to do? And he spoke, saying, These [are] the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head: but these are come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted [their] horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.