Zechariah 1

1 ¹ In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of our Father came to Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo the prophet: ² Our Father was very angry with your ancestors.

³ Therefore say to them: This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: Return to me, declares the Father of heaven's armies, and I will return to you.

⁴ Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares our Father.

⁵ Your ancestors—where are they now? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? Then they repented and said, 'Just as the Father of heaven's armies purposed to do to us, in keeping with our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.'

The Father Sends His Riders

⁷ On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of our Father came to Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo the prophet: ⁸ During the night I had a vision—and there before me was a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine, and behind him were red, brown, and white horses. ⁹ I asked, 'What are these, my lord?' And the angel who was talking with me answered, 'I will show you what they are.'

¹⁰ Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, 'They are the ones our Father has sent to patrol the earth.'

¹¹ And they reported to the messenger of our Father who was standing among the myrtle trees, 'We have patrolled the earth, and the whole earth is at rest and at peace.'

¹² Then the messenger of our Father said, 'Father of heaven's armies, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry for these seventy years?'

¹³ So our Father spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was talking with me.

¹⁴ Then the angel who was talking with me said, 'Proclaim this: This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion,' ¹⁵ but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they made things far worse. ¹⁶ Therefore this is what our Father says: I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt, declares the Father of heaven's armies, and the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Proclaim further: This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and our Father will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.

The Horns and the Craftsmen

¹⁸ Then I looked up, and there before me were four horns. ¹⁹ I asked the angel who was talking with me, 'What are these?' He answered, 'These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.'

²⁰ Then our Father showed me four craftsmen. ²¹ I asked, 'What are these coming to do?' He answered, 'These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise their head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.'