Zechariah 1

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord

²“The Lord

³Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord

⁴“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord

⁵“Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

⁶Yet surely My words and My statutes, Which I commanded My servants the prophets, Did they not overtake your fathers? “So they returned and said: ‘Just as the Lord According to our ways and according to our deeds, So He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ”

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord

⁸I saw by night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and it stood among the myrtle trees in the hollow; and behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white.

⁹Then I said, “My lord, what are these?” So the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”

¹⁰And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord

¹¹So they answered the Angel of the Lord

¹²Then the Angel of the Lord

¹³And the Lord

¹⁴So the angel who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord “I am zealous for Jerusalem And for Zion with great zeal.

¹⁵I am exceedingly angry with the nations at ease; For I was a little angry, And they helped—but with evil intent.”

¹⁶‘Therefore thus says the Lord “I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy; My house shall be built in it,” says the Lord “And a surveyor’s line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.” ’

¹⁷“Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord “My cities shall again spread out through prosperity; The Lord And will again choose Jerusalem.” ’ ”

¹⁸Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were four horns.

¹⁹And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” So he answered me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰Then the Lord

²¹And I said, “What are these coming to do?” So he said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head; but the craftsmen are coming to terrify them, to cast out the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”