ZechariahChapter 1

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¹It was the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king. The LORD gave a message to the prophet Zechariah. Zechariah was the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. The LORD said, ²"The LORD was very angry with your ancestors. ³So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: 'Come back to me,' says the LORD of Hosts, 'and I will come back to you,' says the LORD of Hosts. ⁴Do not be like your ancestors. The earlier prophets told them, 'This is what the LORD of Hosts says: Turn away now from your evil ways and evil deeds.' But they did not listen. They paid no attention to me, says the LORD. ⁵Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶But my words and my laws, which I gave to my servants the prophets, caught up with your ancestors, didn't they? Then they turned back to God. They said, 'The LORD of Hosts planned to do to us what our ways and deeds deserved. And he has done just that.'" ⁷The LORD gave a message to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo. It was the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat. It was the second year that Darius was king. ⁸I looked out into the night. I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were red, brown, and white horses. ⁹I asked, "Sir, what are these?" The angel who was talking with me answered, "I will show you what they are." ¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained. He said, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to go all over the earth and watch it." ¹¹The riders spoke to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees. They said, "We have gone all over the earth. Look, the whole earth is at rest and quiet." ¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD of Hosts, how long will you hold back your mercy from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah? You have been angry with them for these seventy years." ¹³So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was talking with me. ¹⁴Then the angel who was talking with me said, "Announce this message. This is what the LORD of Hosts says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. ¹⁵But I am very angry with the nations that feel safe and relaxed. For I was only a little angry, but they made the trouble much worse.' ¹⁶So this is what the LORD says: 'I will come back to Jerusalem with mercy. My house will be rebuilt there,' says the LORD of Hosts. 'And a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.' ¹⁷Announce this too. This is what the LORD of Hosts says: 'My towns will again overflow with good things. The LORD will again comfort Zion. He will again choose Jerusalem.'" ¹⁸Then I looked up and saw four horns. ¹⁹So I asked the angel who was talking with me, "What are these?" He told me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem." ²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. ²¹I asked, "What are these men coming to do?" He answered, "These are the horns that scattered Judah. They scattered it so badly that no one could lift up his head. But the craftsmen have come to terrify those nations. They have come to throw down the horns of the nations. Those nations lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people."