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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Zechariah 1: KJVAE
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.
Zechariah 1
1
Turn to the LORD
1I am the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo.#Ezra 4.24—5.1; 6.14.
In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia,#1.1 eighth month…second year…king of Persia: Bul, the eighth month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-October to mid-November; the second year of the rule of Darius was 520 BC. the LORD told me to say:
2-3Israel, I, the LORD All-Powerful, was very angry with your ancestors. But if you people will return to me, I will turn and help you. 4Don't be stubborn like your ancestors. They were warned by the earlier prophets#1.4 the earlier prophets: Those who preached before the fall of Jerusalem in either 587 or 586 BC. to give up their evil and turn back to me, but they paid no attention.
5Where are your ancestors now? Not even prophets live for ever. 6But my warnings and my words spoken by the prophets caught up with your ancestors. So they turned back to me and said, “LORD All-Powerful, you have punished us for our sins, just as you had planned.”
First vision: horses and riders
7-8On the twenty-fourth day of Shebat,#1.7,8 Shebat: The eleventh month of the Hebrew calendar, from about mid-January to mid-February. which was the eleventh month of that same year,#1.7,8 that same year: See verse 1 and the note there. the LORD spoke to me in a vision during the night: in a valley among myrtle trees,#1.7,8 myrtle trees: Evergreen shrubs, which in ancient times were symbols of fertility and renewal. I saw someone on a red horse, with riders on red, brown, and white horses behind him.#Rev 6.4; Rev 6.2. 9An angel was there to explain things to me, and I asked, “Sir, who are these riders?”
“I'll tell you,” the angel answered.
10Straight away, the man standing among the myrtle trees said, “These are the ones the LORD has sent to find out what's happening on earth.”
11Then the riders spoke to the LORD's angel, who was standing among the myrtle trees, and they said, “We have gone everywhere and have discovered that the whole world is at peace.”
12At this, the angel said, “LORD All-Powerful, for seventy years you have been angry with Jerusalem and the towns of Judah. When are you ever going to have mercy on them?”
13The LORD's answer was kind and comforting. 14So the angel told me to announce:
I, the LORD All-Powerful, am very protective of Jerusalem. 15For a while I was angry with the nations, but now I am furious, because they have made things worse for Jerusalem and are not the least bit concerned. 16And so, I will have pity on Jerusalem. The city will be completely rebuilt, and my temple will stand again. 17I also promise that my towns will prosper—Jerusalem will once again be my chosen city, and I will comfort the people of Zion.
Second vision: animal horns
18Next, I saw four animal horns.#1.18 animal horns: Horns, especially those of a bull, were symbols of power in ancient times. The number “four” would signal completeness, one representing each of the four directions. 19-21The angel who was sent to explain was there, and so I asked, “What do these mean?”
His answer was, “These horns are the nations that scattered the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, and took away their freedom.”
Then the LORD showed me four blacksmiths, and I asked, “What are they going to do?”
He replied, “They are going to terrify and crush those horns.”
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012