Zechariah 1

⁴Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,

³⁵And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

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

¹In the second year of the reign of Darius, on the first day of the sixth month, the word of the Lord came through Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, stating

²⁴Thus the construction of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased, and it remained at a standstill until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.

¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

⁶Therefore My wrath and anger poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, so that they have become the desolate ruin they are today.

³¹So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord God.”

⁵How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire?

⁶Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge You, on the kingdoms that refuse to call on Your name,

⁷Our fathers sinned and are no more, but we bear their punishment.

¹Gather yourselves, gather together, O shameful nation,

²before the decree takes effect and the day passes like chaff, before the burning anger of the Lord comes upon you, before the Day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you.

⁵²Which of the prophets did your fathers fail to persecute? They even killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One. And now you are His betrayers and murderers—

²²“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the Lord our God.

⁷Yet from the days of your fathers, you have turned away from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord of Hosts. “But you ask, ‘How can we return?’

¹²“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to Me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

²and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey His voice with all your heart and all your soul according to everything I am giving you today,

³then He will restore you from captivity and have compassion on you and gather you from all the nations to which the Lord your God has scattered you.

¹“If you will return, O Israel, return to Me,” declares the Lord. “If you will remove your detestable idols from My sight and no longer waver,

¹⁵But after I have uprooted them, I will once again have compassion on them and return each one to his inheritance and to his land.

⁸Then they will not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose heart was not loyal, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

¹¹Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’

¹⁵Again and again I have sent you all My servants the prophets, proclaiming: ‘Turn now, each of you, from your wicked ways, and correct your actions. Do not go after other gods to serve them. Live in the land that I have given to you and your fathers.’ But you have not inclined your ear or listened to Me.

⁶We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.

⁷Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea.

¹⁶Wash and cleanse yourselves. Remove your evil deeds from My sight. Stop doing evil!

¹⁷Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”

³So tell the people that this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the Lord of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts.’

²by recalling what was foretold by the holy prophets and commanded by our Lord and Savior through your apostles.

³Most importantly, you must understand that in the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires.

⁵when men fear the heights and dangers of the road, when the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper loses its spring, and the caper berry shrivels—for then man goes to his eternal home and mourners walk the streets.

¹⁰The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty if we are strong—yet their pride is but labor and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.

²⁷Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

⁷before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last, and where is he?

¹¹As water disappears from the sea and a river becomes parched and dry,

¹⁷The Lord has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

²⁵because I, the Lord, will speak whatever word I speak, and it will be fulfilled without delay. For in your days, O rebellious house, I will speak a message and bring it to pass, declares the Lord God.’”

²⁶Furthermore, the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

¹⁵If, however, you do not obey the Lord your God by carefully following all His commandments and statutes I am giving you today, all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

²⁰The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has fully accomplished the purposes of His heart. In the days to come you will understand this clearly.

³⁵Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away.

¹⁹God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?

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

⁴Then another horse went forth. It was bright red, and its rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. And he was given a great sword.

¹³Instead of the thornbush, the cypress will grow, and instead of the brier, the myrtle will spring up; this will make a name for the Lord, an everlasting sign, never to be destroyed.”

¹“To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of Him who holds the seven stars in His right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands.

¹⁹I will plant cedars in the wilderness, acacias, myrtles, and olive trees. I will set cypresses in the desert, elms and boxwood together,

⁷Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the Lord of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.

²The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,

³the third white horses, and the fourth dappled horses—all of them strong.

⁴“What are these, my lord?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me.

⁵“Do you not know what they are?” replied the angel. “No, my lord,” I answered.

¹³Then one of the elders addressed me: “These in white robes,” he asked, “who are they, and where have they come from?”

¹⁴“Sir,” I answered, “you know.” So he replied, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹¹In that dream the angel of God said to me, ‘Jacob!’ And I replied, ‘Here I am.’

³Then the angel who was speaking with me went forth, and another angel came forward to meet him

²²He instructed me and spoke with me, saying: “O Daniel, I have come now to give you insight and understanding.

²³At the beginning of your petitions, an answer went out, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly precious. So consider the message and understand the vision:

¹⁹So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

¹¹And the riders answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”

⁵And the angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven, going forth from their station before the Lord of all the earth.

⁶The one with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

¹⁴Are not the angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?

¹On another day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before Him.

²“Where have you come from?” said the Lord to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

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

⁷“Where have you come from?” said the Lord to Satan. “From roaming through the earth,” he replied, “and walking back and forth in it.”

¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

³⁰At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

³¹And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other.

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

²⁰Bless the Lord, all His angels mighty in strength who carry out His word, who hearken to the voice of His command.

²¹Bless the Lord, all His hosts, you servants who do His will.

¹⁵but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’

³While people are saying, “Peace and security,” destruction will come upon them suddenly, like labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.

¹⁰For this is what the Lord says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.

¹⁰How long, O God, will the enemy taunt You? Will the foe revile Your name forever?

²in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the sacred books, according to the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years.

⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for Me that you fasted?

¹³You will rise up and have compassion on Zion, for it is time to show her favor—the appointed time has come.

¹⁰And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge those who dwell upon the earth and avenge our blood?”

¹“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.

²“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her forced labor has been completed; her iniquity has been pardoned. For she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins.”

¹⁰For this is what the Lord says: “When Babylon’s seventy years are complete, I will attend to you and confirm My promise to restore you to this place.

⁴and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the multitude of men and livestock within it.

⁵For I will be a wall of fire around it, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.’”

¹Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and woke me, as a man is awakened from his sleep.

¹⁴Sing for joy, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart, O Daughter of Jerusalem!

¹⁵The Lord has taken away your punishment; He has turned back your enemy. Israel’s King, the Lord, is among you; no longer will you fear any harm.

¹⁰As for you, O Jacob My servant, do not be afraid, declares the Lord, and do not be dismayed, O Israel. For I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their captivity! Jacob will return to quiet and ease, with no one to make him afraid.

¹¹For I am with you to save you, declares the Lord. Though I will completely destroy all the nations to which I have scattered you, I will not completely destroy you. Yet I will discipline you justly, and will by no means leave you unpunished.”

¹⁸Then the Lord became jealous for His land, and He spared His people.

⁶A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.

¹⁷Proclaim further that this is what the Lord of Hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”

¹“Comfort, comfort My people,” says your God.

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

²²And Hezekiah had asked, “What will be the sign that I will go up to the house of the Lord?”

²⁴Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the Lord.

¹²This is what the Lord God says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,

¹³therefore this is what the Lord God says: I will stretch out My hand against Edom and cut off from it both man and beast. I will make it a wasteland, and from Teman to Dedan they will fall by the sword.

⁸In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.

⁶I was angry with My people; I profaned My heritage, and I placed them under your control. You showed them no mercy; even on the elderly you laid a most heavy yoke.

⁷You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

⁵Woe to Assyria, the rod of My anger; the staff in their hands is My wrath.

⁶I will send him against a godless nation; I will dispatch him against a people destined for My rage, to take spoils and seize plunder, and to trample them down like clay in the streets.

⁴We have endured much scorn from the arrogant, much contempt from the proud.

³This is what the Lord says: “I will return to Zion and dwell in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of Hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.”

²⁴My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep and observe My statutes.

²⁵They will live in the land that I gave to My servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They will live there forever with their children and grandchildren, and My servant David will be their prince forever.

¹⁰“Shout for joy and be glad, O Daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell among you,” declares the Lord.

¹¹“On that day many nations will join themselves to the Lord, and they will become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you.

¹⁴So the Jewish elders built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah son of Iddo. They finished building according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.

¹⁵And this temple was completed on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.

⁹“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you.

⁸In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.

⁹“For to Me this is like the days of Noah, when I swore that the waters of Noah would never again cover the earth. So I have sworn that I will not be angry with you or rebuke you.

³For the Lord will comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; He will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and melodious song.

¹²And the Lord will take possession of Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will once again choose Jerusalem.

¹⁰I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt.

¹¹I will fill you with people and animals, and they will multiply and be fruitful. I will make you as inhabited as you once were, and I will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

⁴They will rebuild the ancient ruins; they will restore the places long devastated; they will renew the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.

⁵Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, and foreigners will be your plowmen and vinedressers.

³⁵For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there and possess it.

¹For the Lord will have compassion on Jacob; once again He will choose Israel and settle them in their own land. The foreigner will join them and unite with the house of Jacob.

¹During Jehoiakim’s reign, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded. So Jehoiakim became his vassal for three years, until he turned and rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar.

²And the Lord sent Chaldean, Aramean, Moabite, and Ammonite raiders against Jehoiakim in order to destroy Judah, according to the word that the Lord had spoken through His servants the prophets.

¹³Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in His hand. Joshua approached Him and asked, “Are You for us or for our enemies?”

³Then I lifted up my eyes and saw a ram with two horns standing beside the canal. The horns were long, but one was longer than the other, and the longer one grew up later.

⁴I saw the ram charging toward the west and the north and the south. No animal could stand against him, and there was no deliverance from his power. He did as he pleased and became great.

⁹Then I lifted up my eyes and saw two women approaching, with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

²⁹In the days of Pekah king of Israel, Tiglath-pileser king of Assyria came and captured Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, and Galilee, including all the land of Naphtali, and he took the people as captives to Assyria.

¹Again I lifted up my eyes and saw before me a flying scroll.

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

⁴Then the people of the land set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to build.

²“Where are you going?” I asked. “To measure Jerusalem,” he replied, “and to determine its width and length.”

¹⁴For this is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Just as I resolved to bring disaster upon you when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the Lord of Hosts,

¹When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel,

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

³“My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. For the Lord of Hosts attends to His flock, the house of Judah; He will make them like His royal steed in battle.

⁴The cornerstone will come from Judah, the tent peg from him, as well as the battle bow and every ruler together.

²“Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples. Judah will be besieged, as well as Jerusalem.

³On that day, when all the nations of the earth gather against her, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who would heave it away will be severely injured.

¹²Return to your stronghold, O prisoners of hope; even today I declare that I will restore to you double.

¹³For I will bend Judah as My bow and fit it with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, O Zion, against the sons of Greece. I will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

²¹The deliverers will ascend Mount Zion to rule over the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will belong to the Lord.

⁵And He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and tramples our citadels. We will raise against it seven shepherds, even eight leaders of men.

⁶And they will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the blade drawn. So He will deliver us when Assyria invades our land and marches into our borders.

²⁷So You delivered them into the hands of enemies who oppressed them, and in their time of distress they cried out to You. From heaven You heard them, and in Your great compassion You gave them deliverers who saved them from the hands of their enemies.

¹⁰“All the horns of the wicked I will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be exalted.”

⁴I say to the proud, ‘Do not boast,’ and to the wicked, ‘Do not lift up your horn.

⁵Do not lift up your horn against heaven or speak with an outstretched neck.’”

¹⁷The Lord has done what He planned; He has accomplished His decree, which He ordained in days of old; He has overthrown you without pity. He has let the enemy gloat over you and exalted the horn of your foes.

¹⁹So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

⁷And the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven, and I heard him swear by Him who lives forever, saying, “It will be for a time, and times, and half a time. When the power of the holy people has finally been shattered, all these things will be completed.”