The Book of
Zechariah
1
1 In
the eighth month,
in the second
year of Darius,
the LORD’s
word came to
the prophet
Zechariah the son
of Berechiah, the
son of Iddo,
saying,
2 “The
LORD was very
displeased with
your fathers.
3 Therefore tell
them, the LORD
of Armies says: ‘Return
to me,’ says
the LORD of
Armies, ‘and I
will return to
you,’ says the
LORD of Armies.
4 Don’t you
be like
your fathers, to
whom the former
prophets proclaimed, saying:
The LORD of
Armies says, ‘Return
now from your
evil ways and
from your evil
doings;’ but
they didn’t hear
nor listen to
me, says the
LORD.
5 Your fathers,
where are they?
And the prophets,
do they live
forever?
6 But
my words and
my decrees, which
I commanded my
servants the
prophets, didn’t they
overtake your fathers?
“Then they
repented and said,
‘Just as the
LORD of
Armies determined to
do to us, according
to our ways
and according to
our practices, so
he has dealt
with us.’ ”
7 On
the twenty-fourth
day of the
eleventh month,
which is the
month Shebat, in
the second year
of Darius, the
LORD’s word came
to the prophet
Zechariah the son
of Berechiah, the
son of Iddo,
saying,
8 “I
had a vision
in the night,
and behold,
a man riding
on a red horse,
and he stood
among the myrtle
trees that were
in a ravine;
and behind him
there were red, brown,
and white horses.
9 Then
I asked, ‘My lord,
what are these?’ ”
The angel who
talked with me
said to me, “I
will show you
what these are.”
10 The
man who stood among
the myrtle trees
answered, “They
are the ones
the LORD has
sent to go
back and forth
through the earth.”
11 They reported to
the LORD’s angel
who stood among
the myrtle trees,
and said, “We
have walked back
and forth through
the earth, and
behold, all
the earth is at
rest and in
peace.”
12 Then
the LORD’s angel
replied, “O LORD
of Armies, how
long will you
not have mercy
on Jerusalem and
on the cities
of Judah, against
which you have
had indignation
these seventy
years?”
13 The
LORD answered the
angel who talked
with me with
kind and
comforting words.
14 So
the angel who
talked with me
said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘The
LORD of Armies
says: “I am
jealous for
Jerusalem and for
Zion with a
great jealousy.
15 I am
very angry with
the nations that
are at ease;
for I was
but a little
displeased, but
they added to the
calamity.”
16 Therefore
the LORD says: “I
have returned to
Jerusalem with
mercy. My house
shall be built
in it,” says
the LORD of
Armies, “and a line
shall be stretched
out over
Jerusalem.” ’
17 “Proclaim
further, saying, ‘The
LORD of Armies
says: “My cities
will again
overflow with
prosperity, and
the LORD will
again comfort Zion,
and will
again choose Jerusalem.” ’ ”
18 I lifted up my eyes and saw,
and behold, four horns.
19 I asked the angel who talked
with me, “What are these?”
He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah,
Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 The
LORD showed me four craftsmen.
21 Then I asked, “What are these
coming to do?”
He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man
lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down
the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of
Judah to scatter it.”