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 [the reign of] Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying,

2 The Lord was very angry with your forefathers.

The Lord has been very angry with your fathers.

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

And you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord Almighty: Turn to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will turn to you, says 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.

And be you not as your fathers, whom the prophets before charged, saying, Thus says the Lord Almighty: Turn you from your evil ways, and from your evil practices: but they listened not, and attended not to listen to me, says the Lord.

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

Where are your fathers, and the prophets? Will 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 do you receive my words and mine ordinances, all that I command by my Spirit to my servants the prophets, who lived in the days of your fathers; and they answered and said, As the Lord Almighty determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so has he done to 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:

On the twenty-fourth [day] in the eleventh month, this is the month Sabat, in the second year of [the reign of] Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, 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 mounted on a red horse, and he stood between the shady mountains; and behind him were red horses, and grey, and piebald, and white.

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

And I said, What are these, [my] lord? And the angel spoke with me said to me, I will show you what these [things] 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 between the mountains answered, and said to me, These are [they] whom the Lord has sent forth to go round 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 between the mountains, and said, We have gone round all the earth, and, behold, all the earth is inhabited, 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 Almighty, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem, and the cities of Juda, which you has disregarded these seventy years?

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

And the Lord Almighty answered the angel that spoke with me good words and consolatory sayings.

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,

And the angel that spoke with me said to me, Cry out and say, Thus says the Lord Almighty; I have been jealous for Jerusalem and Sion with 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 angry with the heathen that combine to attack [her]: forasmuch as I indeed was a little angry, but they combined to attack [her] for evil.

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 says the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; and my house shall be rebuilt in her, says the Lord Almighty, and a measuring line shall yet be stretched out over 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.

And the angel that spoke with me said to me, Cry yet, and say, Thus says the Lord Almighty; Yet shall cities be spread abroad through prosperity; and the Lord shall yet have mercy upon Sion, and shall choose Jerusalem.

18 Then I looked and saw four animal horns.

And I lifted up mine eyes and looked, 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 spoke with me, What are these things, [my] lord? And he said to me, These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel, and Jerusalem.

20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

And the Lord showed me four artificers.

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.”

And I said, What are these coming to do? And he said, These are the horns that scattered Juda, and they broke Israel in pieces, and none of them lifted up his head: and these are come forth to sharpen them for their hands, [even] the four horns, the nations that lifted up the horn against the land of the Lord to scatter it.