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, a word of YHWH has been to Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

2 The Lord was very angry with your forefathers.

“YHWH was angry against your fathers—wrath!

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

And you have said to them, Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Return to Me, A declaration of YHWH of Hosts, And I return to you, said YHWH 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.

You will not be as your fathers, To whom the former prophets called, Saying, Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Please turn back from your evil ways and from your evil doings, And they did not listen, Nor attend to Me—a declaration of YHWH.

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 all time?

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.”

Only, My words and My statutes, That I commanded My servants the prophets, Have they not overtaken your fathers? And they turn back and say: As YHWH of Hosts designed to do to us, According to our ways, and according to our doings, So He has 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 of the eleventh month (it [is] the month of Sebat), in the second year of Darius, a word of YHWH has been to Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo the prophet. [He was] 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 have seen by night, and behold, one riding on a red horse, and he is standing between the myrtles that [are] in the shade, and behind him [are] horses, red, bay, and white.

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

And I say, “What [are] these, my lord?” And the messenger who is speaking with me says to me, “I show you 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 one who is standing between the myrtles answers and says, “These [are] they whom YHWH has sent to walk up and down in the land.”

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 answer the Messenger of YHWH who is standing between the myrtles, and say, “We have walked up and down in the land, and behold, all the land is sitting still, and 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?”

And the Messenger of YHWH answers and says, “YHWH of Hosts! Until when do You not pity Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, that You have abhorred these seventy years?”

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

And YHWH answers the messenger, who is speaking with me, good words, comfortable 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,

And the messenger who is speaking with me, says to me, “Call, saying, Thus said YHWH of Hosts: I have been zealous for Jerusalem, And for Zion [with] great zeal.

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 [with] great wrath I am angry against the nations who are at ease, For I was a little angry, and they assisted—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 said YHWH: I have turned to Jerusalem with mercies, My house is built in it, A declaration of YHWH of Hosts, And a line is stretched 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.

Again call, saying, Thus said YHWH of Hosts: Again My cities overflow from good, And YHWH has again comforted Zion, And He has fixed again on Jerusalem.”

18 Then I looked and saw four animal horns.

And I lift up my eyes, and look, 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 say to the messenger who is speaking with me, “What [are] these?” And he says to me, “These [are] the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

And YHWH shows me four artisans.

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 say, “What [are] these coming to do?” And He speaks, saying, “These [are] the horns that have scattered Judah, so that no one has lifted up his head, and these come to trouble them, to cast down the horns of the nations who are lifting up a horn against the land of Judah—to scatter it.”