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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Zeḵaryah (Zechariah) 1
1
1In the eighth new moon of the second year of Dareyawesh, the word of יהוה came to Zeḵaryah son of Bereḵyah, son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
2“יהוה was very wroth with your fathers.
3“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back to Me,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and I shall turn back to you,” declares יהוה of hosts.
4“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not obey or give heed to Me,” declares יהוה.
5“Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
6“But My words and My laws, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?” “Then they turned back and said, ‘As יהוה of hosts planned to do to us, according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He has done with us.’” ’ ”
7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh new moon, which is the new moon Sheḇat, in the second year of Dareyawesh, the word of יהוה came to Zeḵaryah son of Bereḵyahu, son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
8“I looked at night and saw a man riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees in the shade. And behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white.”
9And I said, “My master, what are these?” And the messenger who was speaking to me said to me, “Let me show you what they are.”
10And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “They are the ones יהוה has sent to go throughout the earth.”
11And they answered the messenger of יהוה, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have gone throughout the earth, and see, all the earth is at peace and rest.”
12And the messenger of יהוה answered and said, “O יהוה of hosts, how long would You have no compassion on Yerushalayim and on the cities of Yehuḏah, against which You were enraged these seventy years?”
13And יהוה answered the messenger who talked to me, good words, comforting words.
14And the messenger who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “I have been jealous for Yerushalayim and for Tsiyon with great jealousy.
15“And I am very wroth with the nations who are at ease, for when I was a little wroth, they furthered the evil!”
16Therefore thus said יהוה, “I shall return to Yerushalayim with compassion. My house shall be built in it,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and a surveyor’s line be stretched out over Yerushalayim.” ’
17“Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Again My cities shall overflow with goodness. And יהוה shall again comfort Tsiyon, and shall again choose#See Zech. 2:12 and the footnote at Isa. 14:1. Yerushalayim.” ’ ”
18And I lifted up my eyes and looked, and saw four horns.
19And I said to the messenger who was speaking to me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Yehuḏah, Yisra’ĕl, and Yerushalayim.”
20And יהוה showed me four craftsmen.
21And I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he spoke saying, “These are the horns that scattered Yehuḏah, so that no one lifted up his head. But these come to trouble them, to throw down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Yehuḏah to scatter it.”
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