Zechariah 1

1 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,

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

2 “YHWH was angry against your fathers—wrath!

The Lord has been very angry with your fathers:

3 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.

And you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord of armies: Come back to me, says the Lord of armies, and I will come back to you.

4 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.

Be not like your fathers, to whom the voice of the earlier prophets came, saying, Be turned now from your evil ways and from your evil doings: but they did not give ear to me or take note, says the Lord.

5 Your fathers—where [are] they? And the prophets—do they live for all time?

Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they go on living for ever?

6 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.”

But my words and my orders, which I gave to my servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers? and turning back they said, As it was the purpose of the Lord of armies to do to us, in reward for our ways and our doings, so has he done.

7 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:

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

8 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.

I saw in the night a man on a red horse, between the mountains in the valley, and at his back were horses, red, black, white, and of mixed colours.

9 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].”

Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the angel who was talking to me said to me, I will make clear to you what they are.

10 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.”

And the man who was between the mountains, answering me, said, These are those whom the Lord has sent to go up and down through the earth.

11 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.”

And the man who was between the mountains, answering, said to the angel of the Lord, We have gone up and down through the earth, and all the earth is quiet and at rest.

12 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?”

Then the angel of the Lord, answering, said, O Lord of armies, how long will it be before you have mercy on Jerusalem and on the towns of Judah against which your wrath has been burning for seventy years?

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

And the Lord gave an answer in good and comforting words to the angel who was talking to me.

14 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.

And the angel who was talking to me said to me, Let your voice be loud and say, These are the words of the Lord of armies: I am greatly moved about the fate of Jerusalem and of Zion.

15 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.

And I am very angry with the nations who are living untroubled: for when I was only a little angry, they made the evil worse.

16 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.

So this is what the Lord has said: I have come back to Jerusalem with mercies; my house is to be put up in her, says the Lord of armies, and a line is to be stretched out over Jerusalem.

17 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.”

And again let your voice be loud and say, This is what the Lord of armies has said: My towns will again be overflowing with good things, and again the Lord will give comfort to Zion and take Jerusalem for himself.

18 And I lift up my eyes, and look, and behold, four horns.

And lifting up my eyes I saw four horns.

19 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.”

And I said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which have sent Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem in flight.

20 And YHWH shows me four artisans.

And the Lord gave me a vision of four metal-workers.

21 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.”

Then I said, What have these come to do? And he said, These are the horns which sent Judah in flight, and kept him from lifting up his head: but these men have come to send fear on them and to put down the nations who are lifting up their horns against the land of Judah to send it in flight.