Zechariah 1

1In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

2Yahweh was very angry with your ancestors.

3So say to them, “This is what Yahweh of Armies says: Return to me, declares Yahweh of Armies, and I will return to you, says Yahweh of Armies.

4Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets called out, ‘This is what Yahweh of Armies says: Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to me, declares Yahweh.

5Your ancestors—where are they now? And the prophets—do they live forever?

6But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? Then they repented and said, ‘Yahweh of Armies has dealt with us just as he planned to do, as our ways and our deeds deserved.’”

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

8In the night I saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the ravine, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

9I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”

10Then the man standing among the myrtle trees answered, “These are the ones Yahweh has sent to patrol the earth.”

11They reported to the angel of Yahweh who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and the whole earth is at rest and quiet.”

12Then the angel of Yahweh said, “Yahweh of Armies, how long will you withhold compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?”

13And Yahweh answered the angel who was speaking with me with good words, comforting words.

14Then the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim this: ‘This is what Yahweh of Armies says: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

15But I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was only a little angry, but they made the disaster worse.

16Therefore this is what Yahweh says: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be rebuilt in it, declares Yahweh of Armies, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

17Proclaim further: ‘This is what Yahweh of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”

18Then I looked up and saw four horns.

19I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” He said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

20Then Yahweh showed me four craftsmen.

21I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations that raised their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”