Zechariah 1

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

The Lord sent a message to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, in the eighth month of the second year of king Darius' reign, saying:

2 The Lord has been very angry with your fathers:

The Lord was very angry with your forefathers.

3 And you are to say to them, These are the words of the Lord of armies: Come back to me, says the Lord of armies, and I will come back to you.

So tell the people this: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord Almighty.

4 Be not like your fathers, to whom the voice of the earlier prophets came, saying, Be turned now from your evil ways and from your evil doings: but they did not give ear to me or take note, says the Lord.

You must not be like your forefathers. They were told by previous prophets: Give up your evil ways, and the evil things you do. But they would not listen or pay any attention to me, says the Lord.

5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they go on living for ever?

Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, did they live forever?

6 But my words and my orders, which I gave to my servants the prophets, have they not overtaken your fathers? and turning back they said, As it was the purpose of the Lord of armies to do to us, in reward for our ways and our doings, so has he done.

But didn't all my instructions and warnings that I ordered my servants the prophets to communicate, didn't all that I said happen to your forefathers? So they repented and said, “What the Lord Almighty planned to do to us was what we deserved because of our ways and our actions. He did what he said he would.”

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

The Lord sent a message to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat) of the second year of king Darius' reign:

8 I saw in the night a man on a red horse, between the mountains in the valley, and at his back were horses, red, black, white, and of mixed colours.

During the night I saw a man sitting on a red horse that stood among some myrtle trees in a narrow valley. Behind him were red, brown, and white horses with their riders.

9 Then I said, O my lord, what are these? And the angel who was talking to me said to me, I will make clear to you what they are.

I asked him, “My lord, what are these?” The angel I was talking to replied, “I will show you.”

10 And the man who was between the mountains, answering me, said, These are those whom the Lord has sent to go up and down through the earth.

The man who was there among the myrtle trees said, “These are the ones the Lord has sent out to patrol the earth.”

11 And the man who was between the mountains, answering, said to the angel of the Lord, We have gone up and down through the earth, and all the earth is quiet and at rest.

The riders reported to the angel of the Lord who was among the myrtle trees, “We have been patrolling the earth and saw that the whole earth has been pacified.”

12 Then the angel of the Lord, answering, said, O Lord of armies, how long will it be before you have mercy on Jerusalem and on the towns of Judah against which your wrath has been burning for seventy years?

Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how long will it be before you have mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah which you have been angry with for the past seventy years?”

13 And the Lord gave an answer in good and comforting words to the angel who was talking to me.

So the Lord replied to the angel I was talking to with kind and comforting words.

14 And the angel who was talking to me said to me, Let your voice be loud and say, These are the words of the Lord of armies: I am greatly moved about the fate of Jerusalem and of Zion.

Then the angel I was talking with told me, This is what you are to announce. The Lord Almighty says this: I am jealously protective of Jerusalem and Mount Zion,

15 And I am very angry with the nations who are living untroubled: for when I was only a little angry, they made the evil worse.

and I am extremely angry with the arrogant nations who think they are secure. I was only a little angry with my people, but they made the punishment far worse.

16 So this is what the Lord has said: I have come back to Jerusalem with mercies; my house is to be put up in her, says the Lord of armies, and a line is to be stretched out over Jerusalem.

Therefore this is what the Lord says: I have returned to be merciful to Jerusalem. My Temple shall be rebuilt there, as well as the city, declares the Lord Almighty.

17 And again let your voice be loud and say, This is what the Lord of armies has said: My towns will again be overflowing with good things, and again the Lord will give comfort to Zion and take Jerusalem for himself.

Announce this as well, says the Lord Almighty: Prosperity will flood out of my cities. I the Lord will comfort Zion, and Jerusalem will be my chosen city.

18 And lifting up my eyes I saw four horns.

Then I looked and saw four animal horns.

19 And I said to the angel who was talking to me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which have sent Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem in flight.

“What are these?” I asked the angel I was talking to. “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem,” he replied.

20 And the Lord gave me a vision of four metal-workers.

Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

21 Then I said, What have these come to do? And he said, These are the horns which sent Judah in flight, and kept him from lifting up his head: but these men have come to send fear on them and to put down the nations who are lifting up their horns against the land of Judah to send it in flight.

“What are these men coming to do?” I asked. The angel replied, “The four horns—these nations—scattered Judah, humbling the people so that they could not lift up their heads. These craftsmen have to come to terrify these nations, and to destroy them—those who used their power against the land of Judah, scattering the people.”