A Call to Repentance
1 In the eighth monthof the second year of Darius, the word of theLordcameto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son ofIddo the prophet, saying,
2 “TheLordhas been very angry with your fathers.
3 Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says theLordof hosts: “Returnto Me,” says theLordof hosts, “and I will return to you,” says theLordof hosts.
4 “Do not be like your fathers,to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says theLordof hosts:“Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not hear nor heed Me,” says theLord.
5 “Your fathers, wherearethey?
And the prophets, do they live forever?
6 Yet surelyMy words and My statutes,
Which I commanded My servants the prophets,
Did they not overtake your fathers?
“So they returned and said:
# ‘Just as theLordof hosts determined to do to us,
According to our ways and according to our deeds,
So He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ”
Vision of the Horses
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of theLordcame to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet:
8 I saw by night, and behold,a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind himwerehorses: red, sorrel, and white.
9 Then I said,“My lord, whatarethese?” So the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what theyare.”
10 And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said,“Thesearetheoneswhom theLordhas sent to walk to and fro throughout the earth.”
11 So they answered the Angel of theLord, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked to and fro throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is resting quietly.”
The Lord Will Comfort Zion
12 Then the Angel of theLordanswered and said, “OLordof hosts,how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angrythese seventy years?”
13 And theLordanswered the angel who talked to me,withgoodandcomforting words.
14 So the angel who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says theLordof hosts:
# “I amzealous for Jerusalem
And for Zion with great zeal.
15 I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease;
# ForI was a little angry,
And they helped—butwith evilintent.”
16 ‘Therefore thus says theLord:
# “I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy;
# Myhouseshall be built in it,” says theLordof hosts,
# “Andasurveyor’sline shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.” ’
17 “Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says theLordof hosts:
“My cities shall again spread out through prosperity;
# TheLordwill again comfort Zion,
# Andwill again choose Jerusalem.” ’ ”
Vision of the Horns
18 Then I raised my eyes and looked, and therewerefourhorns.
19 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “Whatarethese?”
# So he answered me,“Thesearethe horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 Then theLordshowed me four craftsmen.
21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?”
# So he said, “Thesearethehorns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations thatlifted uptheirhorn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”