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 red horse. ⁱHe was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were red, sorrel, 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 Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that You have been angry with these 70 years?” ^k¹³The 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 Hosts says: I am extremely jealous ^lfor Jerusalem and Zion. ¹⁵I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, ^mfor I was a little angry, but they made it worse. ¹⁶Therefore, 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 Hosts—“and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. ⁿ

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

Read in Logos

Cross references

i1:8 Rv 6:4
j1:11 Jos 11:23; Jdg 5:31; Is 14:7
k1:12 Ps 13:1; 79:5; 89:46; 90:13; Jr 25:11–12; 29:10
l1:14 Ex 20:5; 34:14; Dt 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; Jos 24:19; Nah 1:2; Zch 8:2
m1:15 Is 34:2; Nah 1:2
n1:16 2Kg 21:13; Is 28:17; 34:11; Lm 2:8; Am 7:17
o1:17 2Ch 6:6; Is 40:1; Zch 2:12