Zechariah 1

¹In the eighth month , in the second year of Darius , the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah , the son of Berechiah , son of Iddo , saying ,

²The Lord was very angry with your fathers .

³Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts : Return to me, says the Lord of hosts , and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts .

⁴Do not be like your fathers , to whom the former prophets cried out , Thus says the Lord of hosts , Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds . But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord.

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

⁶But my words and my statutes , which I commanded my servants the prophets , did they not overtake your fathers ? So they repented and said , As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds , so has he dealt with us.

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month , which is the month of Shebat , in the second year of Darius , the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah , the son of Berechiah , son of Iddo , saying ,

⁸I saw in the night , and behold , a man riding on a red horse ! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen , and behind him were red , sorrel , and white horses .

⁹Then I said , What are these , my lord ? The angel who talked with me said to me, I will show you what they are.

¹⁰So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered , These are they whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth .

¹¹And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said , We have patrolled the earth , and behold , all the earth remains at rest .

¹²Then the angel of the Lord said , O Lord of hosts , how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah , against which you have been angry these seventy years ?

¹³And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.

¹⁴So the angel who talked with me said to me, Cry out , Thus says the Lord of hosts : I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion .

¹⁵And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are at ease ; for while I was angry but a little , they furthered the disaster .

¹⁶Therefore , thus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy ; my house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts , and the measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem .

¹⁷Cry out again , Thus says the Lord of hosts : My cities shall again overflow with prosperity , and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem .

¹⁸And I lifted my eyes and saw , and behold , four horns !

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

²⁰Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen .

²¹And I said , What are these coming to do ? He said , These are the horns that scattered Judah , so that no one raised his head . And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.