The Man Among the Myrtle Trees

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.q

8 During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a redr horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.s

9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angelt who was talking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.”u

10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to go throughout the earth.”v

11 And they reported to the angel of the Lordw who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.”x

12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how longy will you withhold mercyz from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah,a which you have been angry with these seventyb years?” 13 So the Lord spokec kind and comforting wordsd to the angel who talked with me.e

14 Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealousf for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure.g I was only a little angry,h but they went too far with the punishment.’i

16 “Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will returnj to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring linek will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the Lord Almighty.l

17 “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfortm Zion and choosen Jerusalem.’ ”o