Zechariah_Chapter 1

In the eighth month of the second year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

The Lord was greatly angry with your ancestors.

Therefore say to the Israelites, This is what the Lord of hosts says: Turn to me, and I will turn to you. This is what the Lord of armies has said.

Don’t imitate your ancestors. The prophets of the past called out to them, saying, This is what the Lord of hosts has said: Turn back from your evil ways and evil deeds. But they don’t listen or obey me. This is what the Lord has said.

Where are your ancestors? Can those prophets live forever?

But will not my words and laws, which I have commanded my servants the prophets, come upon your ancestors? They turned back and said, ‘The Lord of hosts has determined to do what we do and do according to our actions, just as he has done to us.’.

In the eleventh month of the second year of Darius, which is the twenty fourth day of the month of Zibeth, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

I watched at night and saw a person riding a red horse, standing among the guava trees in the depression. Behind him are red horses, yellow horses, and white horses.

I said to the angel who spoke to me, Lord, what does this mean. He said, I want to show you what this means.

The person standing in the middle of the pomegranate tree said, This is the one sent by the Lord to walk around the earth.

Those who ride horses said to the angel of the Lord standing in the midst of the pomegranate tree, ‘We have walked back and forth throughout the earth, and have seen the whole earth rest and be calm.’.

So the angel of the Lord said, O Lord of hosts, how long will you be without mercy, for you have been angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years?

The Lord answered the angel who spoke with me with good words of comfort.

The angel who spoke to me said to me, “Proclaim, ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says:’ My heart is extremely hot for Jerusalem and Zion. ‘”.

I am very angry with those comfortable nations. Because I was once a little angry with my people, they caused excessive harm.

Therefore thus says the Lord, Now that I have returned to Jerusalem, I will still show mercy. My temple will be rebuilt in it, and the line of sight will be stretched over Jerusalem. This is what the Lord of armies has said.

And you shall declare again, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, My cities shall prosper and prosper again. The Lord will comfort Zion again and choose Jerusalem.

I looked up and saw four corners.

I asked the angel who was speaking to me what this meant. He replied, “This is the horn that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”.

The Lord also showed me four craftsmen.

I said, what are they doing here? He said, ‘This is the horn that breaks up Judah, making people afraid to look up.’. But these craftsmen come to intimidate the nations, to smash their horns, they lift up the horns that scatter the land of Judah.