Zechariah 1
1
1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
Call to Repentance
3Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts. 4Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD. 5Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.
Visions of the Night
Among the Myrtle Trees
7Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 8I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. 9Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. 10And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. 11And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.
12Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? 13And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. 14So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 15And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. 16Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 17Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
Four Horns
18Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. 19And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. 21Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.
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Zechariah 1: KJV
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Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Learn More About King James VersionZechariah 1
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Call for Obedience. 1In the second year of Darius,#Darius: Darius I, emperor of Persia from 522 to 486 B.C. The second year…eighth month: October/November 520 B.C., i.e., prior to the latest date in Haggai (Dec. 18, 520 B.C., Hg 2:10). Unlike other prophets, Haggai and Zechariah 1–8 contain specific chronological information, probably because they were sensitive to the imminent end of the expected seventy years of exile. See note on Zec 1:12. in the eighth month, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: 2The Lord was very angry with your ancestors.#Your ancestors: refers to the preexilic people of Judah, who were subjected to Babylonian destruction and exile. #Mi 3:7. 3Say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts, Return to me—oracle of the Lord#Oracle of the Lord: a phrase used extensively in prophetic books to indicate divine speech. of hosts—and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4Do not be like your ancestors to whom the earlier prophets#Earlier prophets: preexilic prophets of the Lord. There are many allusions to them in Zechariah, indicating their influence on the postexilic community (see 7:7, 12). proclaimed: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Turn from your evil ways and from your wicked deeds.#Is 55:7. But they did not listen or pay attention to me#Lk 20:15.—oracle of the Lord.— 5Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, can they live forever? 6But my words and my statutes, with which I charged my servants the prophets, did these not overtake your ancestors?#Zec 7:7–14. Then they repented#Repented: the Hebrew word shub literally means “turn back.” This term is often used to speak of repentance as a return to the covenantal relationship between Israel and the Lord. and admitted: “Just as the Lord of hosts intended to treat us according to our ways and deeds, so the Lord has done.”
First Vision: Horses Patrolling the Earth.#Zec 6:1–7; Rev 5:6; 6:1–9. 7In the second year of Darius, on the twenty-fourth day of Shebat, the eleventh month,#The second year…eleventh month: February 15, 519 B.C. The largest set of visions (1:7–6:15) is dated to a time just prior to the beginning of the new year in the spring. the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:
8#Four riders on horses of three different colors are sent by God to patrol the four corners of the earth. Compare the four chariots of the seventh vision, 6:1–8. I looked out in the night,#In the night: nighttime, or this night. This setting of darkness is meant only for the first vision. and there was a man mounted on a red horse standing in the shadows among myrtle trees; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9I asked, “What are these, my lord?”#My lord: this expression in Hebrew (‘adoni) is used as a polite form of address. Angel who spoke with me: angelic being (not identical to the angel of the Lord who is one of the four horsemen) who serves as an interpreter, bringing a message from God to the prophet, who himself is a messenger of God. Then the angel who spoke with me answered, “I will show you what these are.” 10Then the man who was standing among the myrtle trees spoke up and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”#Zec 7:5; Jer 25:11–12; 29:10. 11And they answered the angel of the Lord,#Angel of the Lord: chief angelic figure in God’s heavenly court, and perhaps the “man” of 1:8. who was standing among the myrtle trees: “We have been patrolling the earth, and now the whole earth rests quietly.” 12Then the angel of the Lord replied, “Lord of hosts, how long will you be without mercy for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that have felt your anger these seventy years?”#These seventy years: allusion to the period of divine anger mentioned in Jer 25:11–12 and 29:10. Here the symbolic number seventy is understood to mark the period without a Temple in Jerusalem. Since these seventy years would have been almost over at this point, this symbolic number would have provided motivation for rebuilding the Temple as a sign of the end of the exile. #Rev 6:10. 13To the angel who spoke with me, the Lord replied favorably, with comforting words.
Oracular Response. 14The angel who spoke with me then said to me, Proclaim: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
I am jealous for Jerusalem
and for Zion#For Jerusalem and for Zion: rather than the usual order, Zion and Jerusalem, elsewhere in the Bible. The reversal highlights the centrality of Jerusalem, which is mentioned in all three of the brief oracles of 1:14–17. intensely jealous.#Zec 8:2.
15I am consumed with anger
toward the complacent nations;#Complacent nations: probably a reference to the Persian empire, which in its imperial extent included many national groups that maintained separate identities. Compounded the disaster: the surrounding nations took advantage of the Lord’s anger against Judah to further their own interests.
When I was only a little angry,
they compounded the disaster.#Is 47:6.
16Therefore, thus says the Lord:
I return to Jerusalem in mercy;#Is 54:6–10.
my house#My house: the Temple. See note on Hg 1:4. Measuring line: a builder’s string, not for devastation, as in Is 34:11, but for reconstruction. will be rebuilt there#Zec 2:5–9.—oracle of the Lord of hosts—
and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.
17Proclaim further: Thus says the Lord of hosts:
My cities will again overflow with prosperity;
the Lord will again comfort Zion,
and will again choose Jerusalem.#Zec 2:15; 13:9.
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