The Prophet Zechariah

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- Chapter 1 -

(Jeremiah 3:11–25; Hosea 14:1–3)

When Darius had been the emperor of Persia for two years, in the eighth month of his reign, Yahweh gave Zechariah the prophet, son of Berekiah and grandson of Iddo the prophet, this message:

“I was very angry with your ancestors.

So tell this to the people: Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, says this: ’Return to me, and if you do that, I will help you again.

Do not be like your ancestors. Prophets, who have now died, continually proclaimed to your ancestors that they should stop doing the evil things that they were always doing. But they refused to pay attention to what I said.

Your ancestors have died and are now in their graves. Even the prophets did not live forever either.

But the commands and the decrees that I had instructed my servants the prophets to tell them, your ancestors did not obey them, so I punished them. So then they repented and said that I, Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, had done to them what they deserved for their evil behavior, just like I had said I would do.’”

The Vision of the Horses

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Yahweh gave another message to me.

During the night I had a vision. In the vision I saw an angel who was on a red horse. He was in a narrow valley among some myrtle trees. Behind him were angels on other horses, red, reddish-brown, and white horses.

I asked the angel who had been talking to me, “Sir, who are those angels on the horses?” He replied, “I will show you who they are.”

Then the angel who had stopped under the myrtle trees explained. He said, “They are the angels whom Yahweh has sent to patrol the entire world.”

Then those angels reported to the angel of Yahweh who was under the myrtle trees, “We have traveled throughout the world, and we have found out that the army of the emperor has conquered nations throughout the world, and that they are now helpless and inactive.”

Then the angel asked, “Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, how long will you continue to not act mercifully toward Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah? You have been angry with them for seventy years!”

So Yahweh spoke kindly to the angel who had talked to me, saying things that comforted him.

Then the angel who had been talking with me said to me, “Proclaim this to the people of Jerusalem: Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, says that he is very concerned about the people who live on Mount Zion and in the other parts of Jerusalem.

And he is very angry with the nations that are proud and feel safe. He was only a little bit angry with Judah, but they caused them to suffer much more.

Therefore, he says that he will go back to Jerusalem and help the people. It will be as if he himself had surveyed and measured all the land in the city.

Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, also said to tell people in his cities in Judah that they will soon be very prosperous again. He will encourage the people of Jerusalem again, and he will again choose Jerusalem as his special city.”

The Vision of the Horns and the Craftsmen

Then I looked up and saw four animal horns in front of me.

I asked the angel who had been speaking to me, “What are those horns?” He replied, “Those horns represent the nations that forced the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah and Israel to go to other countries.”

Then Yahweh showed me four blacksmiths.

I asked, “What are those men coming to do?” He replied, “The nations that those horns represent scattered the people of Judah, so they suffered greatly. But these blacksmiths are coming to frighten and destroy those nations and to throw down their horns, their power, all those nations who had attacked the land of Judah.”

(Jeremiah 3:11–25; Hosea 14:1–3)

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the LORD’s(a) word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

“The LORD was very displeased with your fathers.

Therefore tell them, the LORD of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of Armies.

Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: The LORD of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear nor listen to me, says the LORD.

Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”

The Vision of the Horses

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the LORD’s word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

“I had a vision in the night, and behold,(b) a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”

They reported to the LORD’s angel who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.”

Then the LORD’s angel replied, “O LORD of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

The LORD answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.

So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”

Therefore the LORD says: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says the LORD of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’

“Proclaim further, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’”

The Vision of the Horns and the Craftsmen

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns.

I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

The LORD showed me four craftsmen.

Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Footnotes

(a)1:1 When rendered in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS, “LORD” or “GOD” is the translation of God’s Proper Name.

(b)1:8 “Behold”, from “הִנֵּה”, means look at, take notice, observe, see, or gaze at. It is often used as an interjection.