Zechariah 1

CHAPTER 1

Return to Me, Declares Yahweh

¹In the eighth month of the second year of ^aDarius, the word of ¹Yahweh came to ^bZechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of ^cIddo, saying,

²“Yahweh was very ^awrathful against your fathers.

³“Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “^aReturn to Me,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says Yahweh of hosts.

⁴“Do not be ^alike your fathers, to whom the ^bformer prophets called out, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “^cReturn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.” ’ But they did ^dnot listen or give heed to Me,” declares Yahweh.

⁵“Your ^afathers, where are they? And the ^bprophets, do they live forever?

⁶“But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My slaves the prophets, ^aovertake your fathers? Then they ¹returned and said, ‘^bAs Yahweh of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has done with us.’”

A Man on a Red Horse

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

⁸I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a ^ared horse, and he was standing among the ^bmyrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel, and ^cwhite horses behind him.

⁹Then I said, “My ^alord, what are these?” And the ^bangel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

¹⁰And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom Yahweh has sent to ^1apatrol the earth.”

¹¹So they answered the angel of Yahweh who was ^astanding among the myrtle trees and said, “We have ¹patrolled the earth, and behold, ^ball the earth is sitting still and quiet.”

¹²Then the angel of Yahweh answered and said, “O Yahweh of hosts, ^ahow long will You ^bhave no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been ^cindignant these ^dseventy years?”

¹³Yahweh answered the ^aangel who was speaking with me with good words, ^bcomforting words.

¹⁴So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “^aCall out, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “I am ^bexceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.

¹⁵“But I am very ^awrathful with the nations who are ^bat ease; for I was only a little wrathful, but they ^chelped increase the calamity.”

¹⁶‘Therefore thus says Yahweh, “I will ^areturn to Jerusalem with compassion; My ^bhouse will be built in it,” declares Yahweh of hosts, “and a measuring ^cline will be stretched over Jerusalem.” ’

¹⁷“Again, call out, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh of hosts, “My ^acities will again overflow with good, and Yahweh will again ^bcomfort Zion and again ^cchoose Jerusalem.” ’ ”

Four Horns and Craftsmen

¹⁸¹Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were four horns.

¹⁹So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the ^ahorns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰Then Yahweh showed me four ^acraftsmen.

²¹And I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the ^ahorns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to cause them to tremble, to ^bthrow down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”