A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, ain the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet bZechariah, the son of cBerechiah, son of dIddo, saying, 2 e“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: fReturn to me, says the Lord of hosts, and gI will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 hDo not be like your fathers, ito whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, fReturn from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But jthey did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And kthe prophets, do they live forever? 6 lBut my words and my statutes, which I commanded mmy servants the prophets, did they not novertake your fathers? So they repented and said, o‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for pour ways and pdeeds, so has he dealt with us.’ ”

A Vision of a Horseman

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet bZechariah, the son of cBerechiah, son of dIddo, saying, 8 “I saw in the night, and behold, qa man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were rred, sorrel, and white horses. 9 Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ sThe angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ 10 So qthe man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, t‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to upatrol the earth.’ 11 And they answered sthe angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, u‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth vremains at rest.’ 12 Then sthe angel of the Lord said, w‘O Lord of hosts, whow long will you xhave no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these yseventy years?’ 13 And the Lord answered zgracious and comforting words to sthe angel who talked with me. 14 So sthe angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: aI am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 bAnd I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are cat ease; dfor while I was angry but a little, ethey furthered the disaster. 16 Therefore, thus says the Lord, fI have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; gmy house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and hthe measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: iMy cities shall again overflow with prosperity, jand the Lord will again comfort Zion and again kchoose Jerusalem.’ ”

A Vision of Horns and Craftsmen

18 1 And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, lfour horns! 19 And I said to sthe angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, l“These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” 20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?” He said, l“These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come mto terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations nwho lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”