Zechariah 1

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

³So tell 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. So says the Father of heaven's armies. ⁴Do not be like your ancestors. To them the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the Father of heaven's armies says: Turn now from your evil ways and evil deeds. But they would not listen or heed me, declares our Father.

⁵Your ancestors—where are they now? And the prophets, do they live forever?

⁶But my words and decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets — did they not overtake your ancestors? Then they turned back and said, 'Just as the Father of heaven's armies planned to do to us, matching our ways and deeds, so he has dealt with us.'

The Father Sends His Riders

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

¹⁰The man among the myrtle trees answered, 'These are the ones our Father sent to patrol the earth.'

¹¹They reported to the messenger of our Father standing among the myrtle trees, 'We have patrolled the earth; the whole earth sits at rest and peace.'

¹²Then the messenger of our Father said, 'Father of heaven's armies, how long will you hold back mercy from Jerusalem and Judah's cities, angry with them these seventy years?'

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

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

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

The Horns and the Craftsmen

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

²⁰Then our Father showed me four craftsmen.

²¹I asked, 'What are these coming to do?' He said, 'These horns scattered Judah so no one could lift his head; but these craftsmen came to terrify them and throw down the horns the nations raised against Judah's land to scatter it.'