Zacharias 1

1 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,

In the eighth month in the second year of Darius, this message of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:

2 The Lord has been very angry with your fathers.

The Lord was furious with your ancestors.

3 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.

So tell the people this message of the Lord of hosts: “Return to me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you” says the Lord of hosts.

4 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.

“Do not be like your ancestors to whom the former prophets cried, ‘The Lord of hosts says to turn now from your evil ways, and from your evil deeds’. They did not heed nor listen to me,” says the Lord.

5 Where are your fathers, and the prophets? Will they live for ever?

“Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

6 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.

But did not my words and my statutes with which I charged my servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? And they repented and said, ‘Just as the Lord of hosts planned to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our deeds, so he has dealt with us.’”

7 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,

In the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, this message of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:

8 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.

I saw in the night a man on a red horse, among the myrtle trees that were in the valley-bottom. Behind him there were horses, red, sorrel, and white.

9 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.

Then said I, “My Lord, what are these?” And the messenger who was talking with me said, “I will show you what they are.”

10 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.

And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, “They are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

11 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.

And the riders answered the messenger of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone up and down through the world and behold, all the earth is still and at peace.”

12 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?

Then the messenger of the Lord said, “Lord of hosts, how long will you have no pity for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with which you have been angry for seventy years?”

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

And the Lord answered the messenger who was talking with me with kind and comforting words.

14 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.

So the messenger who was talking with me said to me, “Proclaim now that the Lord of hosts says: I am deeply concerned for Jerusalem.

15 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.

But I am deeply angry with the arrogant, complacent nations. I was only a little angry with Israel but they made the suffering worse.

16 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.

Therefore, says the Lord, I am turning to show mercy to Jerusalem. My temple will be rebuilt in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.

17 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.

Proclaim again: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities will again overflow with prosperity and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.”

18 And I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold four horns.

Now I looked up and saw four horns.

19 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.

I said to the messenger who was talking with me, “What are these?” He answered, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

20 And the Lord showed me four artificers.

Then the Lord showed me four smiths.

21 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.

I said, “What are these coming to do?” He answered, “The horns scattered Judah, so that no one dared lift their head. But the smiths have come to terrify them, to crush the horns of the nations which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”