Zechariah 1–2

A PLEA FOR REPENTANCE

1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius,^a the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah^b son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: ²“The Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors.^{c 3}So tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Return to me—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and I will return to you, says the Lord of Armies.^{d 4}Do not be like your ancestors;^e the earlier prophets proclaimed to them:^f This is what the Lord of Armies says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.^g But they did not listen or pay attention to me—this is the Lord’s declaration. ⁵Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever? ⁶But didn’t my words and my statutes that I commanded my servants the prophets overtake your ancestors?’ ”

So the people repented and said, “As the Lord of Armies decided to deal with us for our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.”^h

THE NIGHT VISIONS

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

FIRST VISION: HORSEMEN

⁸I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a chestnut^A horse.ⁱ He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley.^B Behind him were chestnut, brown, and white horses. ⁹I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

¹¹They reported to the angel of the Lord standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”^j

¹²Then the angel of the Lord responded, “How long, Lord of Armies, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that you have been angry with these seventy years?”^{k 13}The Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

¹⁴So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The Lord of Armies says: I am extremely jealous^l for Jerusalem and Zion. ¹⁵I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease,^m for I was a little angry, but they made the destruction worse.^{C 16}Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.ⁿ

¹⁷“Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”^o

SECOND VISION: FOUR HORNS AND CRAFTSMEN

¹⁸Then I looked up and saw four horns.^{p 19}So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”

And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. ²¹I asked, “What are they coming to do?”

He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off^A the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

THIRD VISION: SURVEYOR

2I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ²I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”

³Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him. ⁴He said to him, “Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the number of people and animals in it.”^{a 5}The declaration of the Lord: “I myself will be a wall^b of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it.”

⁶“Listen! Listen! Flee from the land of the north”^c—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ⁷“Listen, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.” ⁸For the Lord of Armies says this: “In pursuit of his glory, he sent me against the nations plundering you, for whoever touches you touches the pupil^B of my^C eye. ⁹For look, I am raising my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own servants.^d Then you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me.

¹⁰“Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ¹¹“Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become my^D people.^e I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. ¹²The Lord will take possession of Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem.^{f 13}Let all humanity be silent^g before the Lord, for from his holy dwelling he has roused himself.”