A Call to Repentance

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

2 “The Lord was very aangry with your fathers.

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

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

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 servants the prophets, aovertake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘bAs the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ”

Patrol of the Earth

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

8 I 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.

9 Then 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.”

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

11 So they answered the angel of the Lord who was astanding among the myrtle trees and said, “We have 1patrolled the earth, and behold, ball the earth is 2peaceful and quiet.”

12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “O Lord 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?”

13 The Lord answered the aangel who was speaking with me with 1gracious words, bcomforting words.

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

15 “But I am very aangry with the nations who are bat ease; for while I was only a little angry, they 1cfurthered the disaster.”

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

17 “Again, proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “My acities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again bcomfort Zion and again cchoose Jerusalem.” ’ ”

18 1Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns.

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

20 Then the Lord showed me four acraftsmen.

21 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 terrify them, to bthrow down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”