Zechariah 1–3

Chapter 1

A Call to Repentance

¹In 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

⁷On 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:

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 the Lord has sent to ^1apatrol the earth.”

¹¹So 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.”

¹²Then 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?”

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

¹⁴So 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.” ’ ”

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

¹⁹So 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.”

²⁰Then the Lord showed me four ^acraftsmen.

²¹I 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.”

Chapter 2

God’s Favor to Zion

¹¹Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a ^ameasuring line in his hand.

²So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To ^ameasure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.”

³And behold, the ^aangel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him,

⁴and said to him, “Run, speak to that ^ayoung man, saying, ‘^bJerusalem will be inhabited ^1cwithout walls because of the ^dmultitude of men and cattle within it.

⁵‘For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a ^awall of fire ¹around her, and I will be the ^bglory in her midst.’ ”

⁶“¹Ho there! ^aFlee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have ^bdispersed you as the four winds of the heavens,” declares the Lord.

⁷“Ho, Zion! ^aEscape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.”

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts, “After ^1aglory He has sent Me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the ^2bapple of His eye.

⁹“For behold, I will ^awave My hand over them so that they will be ^bplunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me.

¹⁰“^aSing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will ^bdwell in your midst,” declares the Lord.

¹¹“^aMany nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will ^bdwell in your midst, and you will ^cknow that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.

¹²“The Lord will ^1apossess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again ^bchoose Jerusalem.

¹³“^1aBe silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He is ^baroused from His holy habitation.”

Chapter 3

Joshua, the High Priest

¹Then he showed me ^aJoshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and ^1bSatan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

²The Lord said to Satan, “^aThe Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has ^bchosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a ^cbrand plucked from the fire?”

³Now Joshua was clothed with ^afilthy garments and standing before the angel.

⁴He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “^aRemove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have ^btaken your iniquity away from you and ¹will ^cclothe you with festal robes.”

⁵Then I said, “Let them put a clean ^aturban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

⁶And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying,

⁷“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will ^awalk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also ^bgovern My house and also have charge of My ^ccourts, and I will grant you ¹free access among these who are standing here.

The Branch

⁸‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a ^asymbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the ^1bBranch.

⁹‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are ^aseven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will ^bremove the iniquity of that land in one day.

¹⁰‘In that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his ^avine and under his fig tree.’ ”