Zechariah 5–8

SIXTH VISION: FLYING SCROLL

5I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.^{c 2}“What do you see?” he asked me.

“I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “thirty feet^B long and fifteen feet^C wide.”^d

³Then he said to me, “This is the curse^e that is going out over the whole land, for everyone who is a thief, contrary to what is written on one side, has gone unpunished,^D and everyone who swears falsely, contrary to what is written on the other side, has gone unpunished. ⁴I will send it out,”^f—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—“and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It will stay inside his house and destroy it along with its timbers and stones.”^g

SEVENTH VISION: WOMAN IN THE BASKET

⁵Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Look up and see what this is that is approaching.”

⁶So I asked, “What is it?”

He responded, “It’s a measuring basket^E that is approaching.” And he continued, “This is their iniquity^F in all the land.” ⁷Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman^h sitting inside the basket.^{i 8}“This is Wickedness,” he said. He shoved her down into the basket and pushed the lead weight over its opening. ⁹Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork,^j and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

¹⁰So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

¹¹“To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,”^k he told me. “When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal.”

EIGHTH VISION: FOUR CHARIOTS

6Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. The mountains were made of bronze. ²The first chariot had chestnut^G horses,^l the second chariot black horses,^{m 3}the third chariot white horses,ⁿ and the fourth chariot dappled^o horses—all strong horses. ⁴So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵The angel told me, “These are the four spirits^Hp of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth. ⁶The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south.” ⁷As the strong horses went out, they wanted to go patrol the earth, and the Lord said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth. ⁸Then he summoned me saying, “See, those going to the land of the north have pacified my Spirit in the northern land.”

CROWNING OF THE BRANCH

⁹The word of the Lord came to me:^{q 10}“Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹Take silver and gold, make a crown,^A and place it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ¹²You are to tell him: This is what the Lord of Armies says: Here is a man whose name is Branch;^r he will branch out from his place and build the Lord’s temple. ¹³Yes, he will build the Lord’s temple; he will bear royal splendor^s and will sit on his throne and rule. There will be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two of them.^{t 14}The crown will reside in the Lord’s temple as a memorial to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen^B son of Zephaniah. ¹⁵People who are far off will come and build the Lord’s temple, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the Lord your God.”^u

DISOBEDIENCE AND FASTING

7In the fourth year of King Darius,^v the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. ²Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the Lord’s favor^{w 3}by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

⁴Then the word of the Lord of Armies came to me: ⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?^{a 6}When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?^{b 7}Aren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure,^C along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

⁸The word of the Lord came to Zechariah: ⁹“The Lord of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions.^c Show faithful love and compassion^d to one another. ¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor,^e and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’^{f 11}But they refused to pay attention^g and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.^{h 12}They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.ⁱ Therefore intense anger came from the Lord of Armies. ¹³Just as he had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen, says the Lord of Armies. ¹⁴I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”

OBEDIENCE AND FEASTING

8The word of the Lord of Armies came: ²The Lord of Armies says this: “I am extremely jealous^j for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath.” ³The Lord says this: “I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City;^k the mountain of the Lord of Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.” ⁴The Lord of Armies says this: “Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age. ⁵The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.” ⁶The Lord of Armies says this: “Though it may seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem impossible to me?”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. ⁷The Lord of Armies says this: “I will save my people from the land of the east and the land of the west.^{A 8}I will bring them back^l to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.”^m

⁹The Lord of Armies says this: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words that the prophets spoke when the foundations were laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the Lord of Armies. ¹⁰For prior to those days neither people nor animals had wages. There was no safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I turned everyone against his neighbor. ¹¹But now, I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. ¹²“For they will sow in peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the skies will yield their dew. I will give the remnant of this people all these things as an inheritance.^{n 13}As you have been a curse among the nations,^o house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing.^p Don’t be afraid; let your hands be strong.” ¹⁴For the Lord of Armies says this: “As I resolved to treat you badly when your ancestors provoked me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the Lord of Armies, ¹⁵“so I have resolved again in these days to do what is good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah.^q Don’t be afraid. ¹⁶These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your city gates. ¹⁷Do not plot evil^r in your hearts against your neighbor,^s and do not love perjury,^t for I hate all this”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

¹⁸Then the word of the Lord of Armies came to me: ¹⁹The Lord of Armies says this: “The fast of the fourth month,^u the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth^v will become times of joy, gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.” ²⁰The Lord of Armies says this: “Peoples will yet come, the residents of many cities; ²¹the residents of one city will go to another, saying: Let’s go at once to plead for the Lord’s favor and to seek the Lord of Armies. I am also going. ²²Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the Lord of Armies in Jerusalem and to plead for the Lord’s favor.”^{w 23}The Lord of Armies says this: “In those days, ten men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you,^x for we have heard that God is with you.”