Zechariah 1:18–2:13

Four Horns and Four Blacksmiths

¹⁸Then I looked up and saw four animal horns. ¹⁹“What are these?” I asked the angel who was talking with me.

He replied, “These horns represent the nations that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰Then the Lord showed me four blacksmiths. ²¹“What are these men coming to do?” I asked.

The angel replied, “These four horns—these nations—scattered and humbled Judah. Now these blacksmiths have come to terrify those nations and throw them down and destroy them.”

Chapter 2

Future Prosperity of Jerusalem

¹When I looked again, I saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ²“Where are you going?” I asked.

He replied, “I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”

³Then the angel who was with me went to meet a second angel who was coming toward him. ⁴The other angel said, “Hurry, and say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem will someday be so full of people and livestock that there won’t be room enough for everyone! Many will live outside the city walls. ⁵Then I, myself, will be a protective wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the Lord. And I will be the glory inside the city!’ ”

The Exiles Are Called Home

⁶The Lord says, “Come away! Flee from Babylon in the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds. ⁷Come away, people of Zion, you who are exiled in Babylon!”

⁸After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me against the nations who plundered you. For he said, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession. ⁹I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.

¹⁰The Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem, for I am coming to live among you. ¹¹Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. ¹²The land of Judah will be the Lord’s special possession in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. ¹³Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”