Zechariah 6:1–7:14

Four Chariots

6 I looked up again, and there before me were four chariotsa coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses, the second black,b 3 the third white,c and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. 4 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spiritsa d of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.e 6 The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west,b and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

7 When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth.f And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

8 Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spiritc restg in the land of the north.”h

A Crown for Joshua

9 The word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon.i Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown,j and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshuak son of Jozadak.d l 12 Tell him this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch,m and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord.n 13 It is he who will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And hee will be a priesto on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ 14 The crown will be given to Heldai,f Tobijah, Jedaiah and Heng son of Zephaniah as a memorialp in the temple of the Lord. 15 Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the Lord,q and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.r This will happen if you diligently obeys the Lord your God.”

Justice and Mercy, Not Fasting

7 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariaht on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev.u 2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melek, together with their men, to entreatv the Lordw 3 by asking the priests of the house of the Lord Almighty and the prophets, “Should I mournx and fast in the fifthy month, as I have done for so many years?”

4 Then the word of the Lord Almighty came to me: 5 “Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fastedz and mourned in the fifth and seventha months for the past seventy years,b was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves?c 7 Are these not the words the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophetsd when Jerusalem and its surrounding towns were at reste and prosperous, and the Negev and the western foothillsf were settled?’ ”g

8 And the word of the Lord came again to Zechariah: 9 “This is what the Lord Almighty said: ‘Administer true justice;h show mercy and compassion to one another.i 10 Do not oppress the widowj or the fatherless, the foreignerk or the poor.l Do not plot evil against each other.’m

11 “But they refused to pay attention; stubbornlyn they turned their backso and covered their ears.p 12 They made their hearts as hard as flintq and would not listen to the law or to the words that the Lord Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets.r So the Lord Almighty was very angry.s

13 “ ‘When I called, they did not listen;t so when they called, I would not listen,’u says the Lord Almighty.v 14 ‘I scatteredw them with a whirlwindx among all the nations, where they were strangers. The land they left behind them was so desolate that no one traveled through it.y This is how they made the pleasant land desolate.z’ ”