Zechariah 1:11-21
Zechariah 1:11-21 AMP
And the men on the horses answered the Angel of the LORD who stood among the myrtle trees and said, “We have gone throughout the earth [patrolling it] and behold, all the earth sits at rest [in peace and free from war].” Then the Angel of the LORD said, “O LORD of hosts, how long will You withhold mercy and compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which You have had indignation and anger these seventy years [of the Babylonian captivity]?” And the LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with gracious and comforting words. So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “I am jealous [with a burning, fiery passion] for Jerusalem and for Zion [demanding what is rightfully and uniquely mine] with a great jealousy. But I am very angry with the nations who are at ease and feel secure; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster [against the people of Israel].” Therefore, thus says the LORD, “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy and compassion. My house shall be built in it,” says the LORD of hosts, “and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.” ’ Proclaim again, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD shall again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.” ’ ” Then I looked up, and saw four horns (powers)! So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the horns [the powerful Gentile nations] that have scattered Judah (the Southern Kingdom), Israel (the Northern Kingdom), and Jerusalem (capital city of Judah).” Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. I asked, “What are these [horns and craftsmen] coming to do?” And he said, “These are the horns (powers) that have scattered Judah so that no man raised up his head [because of the suffering inflicted by the Gentile nations]. But these craftsmen have come to terrify them and make them panic, and throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”





