Zechariah 1
1
The Lord Wants His People to Return to Him
1A message from the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah. Berekiah was the son of Iddo. It was the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia. Here is what Zechariah said.
2The Lord who rules over all was very angry with your people of long ago. 3And now he says to us, “Return to me. Then I will return to you,” announces the Lord. 4“Do not be like your people of long ago. The earlier prophets gave them my message. I said, ‘Stop doing what is evil. Turn away from your sinful practices.’ But they would not listen to me. They would not pay any attention,” announces the Lord. 5“Where are those people now? And what about my prophets? Do they live forever? 6I commanded my servants the prophets what to say. I told them what I planned to do. But your people refused to obey me. So I had to punish them.
“Then they had a change of heart. They said, ‘The Lord who rules over all has punished us because of how we have lived. He was fair and right to do that. He has done to us just what he decided to do.’ ”
A Vision of a Horseman Among Some Myrtle Trees
7A message from the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah. Berekiah was the son of Iddo. The message came during the second year that Darius was king. It was the 24th day of the 11th month. That’s the month of Shebat.
8I had a vision at night. I saw a man sitting on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a valley. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
9An angel was talking with me. I asked him, “Sir, what are these?”
He answered, “I will show you what they are.”
10Then the man standing among the myrtle trees spoke. He said, “They are the messengers the Lord has sent out. He told them to go all through the earth.”
11They brought a report to the angel of the Lord. He was standing among the myrtle trees. They said to him, “We have gone all through the earth. We’ve found the whole world enjoying peace and rest.”
12Then the angel of the Lord spoke up. He said, “Lord, you rule over all. How long will you keep from showing your tender love to Jerusalem? How long will you keep it from the towns of Judah? You have been angry with them for 70 years.” 13So the Lord replied with kind and comforting words. He spoke them to the angel who talked with me.
14Then the angel said, “Announce this message. Say, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “I am very jealous for my people in Jerusalem and Zion. 15And I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry with my people. But the nations went too far and tried to wipe them out.”
16“ ‘So the Lord says, “I will return to Jerusalem. I will show its people my tender love. My temple will be rebuilt there. Workers will use a measuring line when they rebuild Jerusalem,” announces the Lord.
17“ ‘He says, “My towns will be filled with good things once more. I will comfort Zion. And I will choose Jerusalem again.” ’ ”
A Vision of Four Horns and Four Skilled Workers
18Then I looked up and saw four animal horns. 19I spoke to the angel who was talking with me. “What are these horns?” I asked.
He said, “They are the powerful nations that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”
20Then the Lord showed me four skilled workers. 21I asked, “What are they coming to do?”
He answered, “The horns are the powerful nations that scattered the people of Judah. That made Judah helpless. But these four skilled workers have come to terrify the horns. The workers will destroy the power of those nations. Those nations had used their power to scatter Judah’s people.”
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Zechariah 1: NIrV
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Zechariah 1
1
Zechariah 1
1¶ In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,
2The Lord has been sore displeased with your fathers.
3Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus hath the Lord of the hosts said; Turn unto me, said the Lord of the hosts, and I will turn unto you, said the Lord of the hosts.
4Do not be as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus hath the Lord of the hosts said; Turn now from your evil ways and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, said 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 slaves the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? Therefore they returned from captivity and said, Like as the Lord of the hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways and according to our doings, so has he dealt with us.
7¶ Upon the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, 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 there were 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 show thee who these are.
10And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are those whom the Lord has 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 land, and, behold, all the earth sits still and is at rest.
12Then the angel of the Lord answered and said, O Lord of the hosts, when wilt thou have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?
13And the Lord answered good words unto the angel that talked with me, words of consolation.
14So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the Lord of the hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15And I am very sore displeased with the Gentiles that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
16Therefore thus hath the Lord said, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in her, saith the Lord of the hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
17Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the Lord of the hosts, My cities through abundance of good shall yet be widened; and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
18¶ Then I lifted up my eyes and saw and behold four horns.
19And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
20And the Lord showed me four carpenters.
21Then I said, What do these come to do? And he spoke, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no one lifted up his head, but these are come to cause them to tremble, to cut down the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.
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The Jubilee Bible 2000 (JUB) by Ransom Press International