Zechariah 1
1
The LORD Calls his People to Return to him
1 #
Ezra 4.24—5.1; 6.14 In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was emperor of Persia, the LORD gave this message to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo. 2The LORD Almighty told Zechariah to say to the people, “I, the LORD, was very angry with your ancestors, 3but now I say to you, ‘Return to me, and I will return to you. 4Do not be like your ancestors. Long ago the prophets gave them my message, telling them not to live evil, sinful lives any longer. But they would not listen to me or obey me. 5Your ancestors and those prophets are no longer alive. 6Through my servants the prophets I gave your ancestors commands and warnings, but they disregarded them and suffered the consequences. Then they repented and acknowledged that I, the LORD Almighty, had punished them as they deserved and as I had determined to do.’ ”
The Prophet's Vision of the Horses
7In the second year that Darius was emperor, on the 24th day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat), the LORD gave me a message in a vision at night. 8#Rev 6.2–8I saw someone riding a red horse. He had stopped among some myrtle trees in a valley, and behind him were other horses — red, dappled, and white. 9I asked him, “Sir, what do these horses mean?”
He answered, “I will show you what they mean. 10The LORD sent them to go and inspect the earth.”
11They reported to the angel: “We have been all over the world and have found that the whole world lies helpless and subdued.”
12Then the angel said, “Almighty LORD, you have been angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years now. How much longer will it be before you show them mercy?”
13The LORD answered the angel with comforting words, 14and the angel told me to proclaim what the LORD Almighty had said: “I have a deep love and concern for Jerusalem, my holy city, 15and I am very angry with the nations that enjoy quiet and peace. For while I was holding back my anger against my people, those nations made the sufferings of my people worse. 16So I have come back to Jerusalem to show mercy to the city. My Temple will be restored, and the city will be rebuilt.”
17The angel also told me to proclaim: “The LORD Almighty says that his cities will be prosperous again and that he will once again help Jerusalem and claim the city as his own.”
The Vision of the Horns
18In another vision I saw four ox horns. 19I asked the angel that had been speaking to me, “What do these horns mean?”
He answered, “They stand for the world powers that have scattered the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20Then the LORD showed me four workers with hammers. 21I asked, “What have they come to do?”
He answered, “They have come to terrify and overthrow the nations that completely crushed the land of Judah and scattered its people.”
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Zechariah 1: GNBDC
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Good News Bible. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.
Zechariah 1
1
A Call to Return to the Lord
1 #
Ezra 4.24—5.1; 6.14. In the eighth month, in the second year of Dari´us, came the word of the Lord unto Zechari´ah, the son of Berechi´ah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 2The Lord hath been sore displeased with your fathers. 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 evildoings: 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.
The Vision of the Horses
7Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat in the second year of Dari´us, came the word of the Lord unto Zechari´ah, the son of Berechi´ah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, 8#Rev 6.4; Rev 6.2. I 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 show 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 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.
The Vision of the Horns and Carpenters
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 showed 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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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.