Zechariah 1; Zechariah 2; Zechariah 3; Zechariah 4; Zechariah 5; Zechariah 6; Zechariah 7

1 In the eighth month of the second year Darius was king, the Lord spoke his word to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, who was the son of Iddo. The Lord said,

2 "The Lord was very angry with your ancestors.

3 So tell the people: This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'Return to me, and I will return to you,' says the Lord All-Powerful.

4 Don't be like your ancestors. In the past the prophets said to them: This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'Stop your evil ways and evil actions.' But they wouldn't listen or pay attention to me, says the Lord.

5 Your ancestors are dead, and those prophets didn't live forever.

6 I commanded my words and laws to my servants the prophets, and they preached to your ancestors, who returned to me. They said, 'The Lord All-Powerful did as he said he would. He punished us for the way we lived and for what we did.'"

7 It was on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in Darius's second year as king. The Lord spoke his word to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, who was the son of Iddo.

8 During the night I had a vision. I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among some myrtle trees in a ravine, with red, brown, and white horses behind him.

9 I asked, "What are these, sir?" The angel who was talking with me answered, "I'll show you what they are."

10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the Lord sent through all the earth."

11 Then they spoke to the Lord's angel, who was standing among the myrtle trees. They said, "We have gone through all the earth, and everything is calm and quiet."

12 Then the Lord's angel asked, "Lord All-Powerful, how long will it be before you show mercy to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? You have been angry with them for seventy years now."

13 So the Lord answered the angel who was talking with me, and his words were comforting and good.

14 Then the angel who was talking to me said to me, "Announce this: This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'I have a strong love for Jerusalem.

15 And I am very angry with the nations that feel so safe. I was only a little angry at them, but they made things worse.'

16 "So this is what the Lord says: 'I will return to Jerusalem with mercy. My Temple will be rebuilt,' says the Lord All-Powerful, 'and the measuring line will be used to rebuild Jerusalem.'

17 "Also announce: This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'My towns will be rich again. The Lord will comfort Jerusalem again, and I will again choose Jerusalem.'"

18 Then I looked up and saw four animal horns.

19 I asked the angel who was talking with me, "What are these?" He said, "These are the horns that scattered the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

21 I asked, "What are they coming to do?" He answered, "They have come to scare and throw down the horns. These horns scattered the people of Judah so that no one could even lift up his head. These horns stand for the nations that attacked the people of Judah and scattered them."

1 Then I looked up and saw a man holding a line for measuring things.

2 I asked him, "Where are you going?" He said to me, "I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is."

3 Then the angel who was talking with me left, and another angel came out to meet him.

4 The second angel said to him, "Run and tell that young man, 'Jerusalem will become a city without walls, because there will be so many people and cattle in it.

5 I will be a wall of fire around it,' says the Lord. 'And I will be the glory within it.'

6 "Oh no! Oh no! Run away from Babylon, because I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven," says the Lord.

7 "Oh no, Jerusalem! Escape, you who live right in Babylon."

8 This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: "After he has honored me and sent me against the nations who took your possessions -- because whoever touches you hurts what is precious to me --

9 I will shake my hand against them so that their slaves will rob them." Then you will know that the Lord All-Powerful sent me.

10 "Shout and be glad, Jerusalem. I am coming, and I will live among you," says the Lord.

11 "At that time people from many nations will join with the Lord and will become my people. Then I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord All-Powerful has sent me to you.

12 The Lord will take Judah as his own part of the holy land, and Jerusalem will be his chosen city again.

13 Be silent, everyone, in the presence of the Lord. He is coming out of the holy place where he lives."

1 Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing in front of the Lord's angel. And Satan was standing by Joshua's right side to accuse him.

2 The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord says no to you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem says no to you! This man was like a burning stick pulled from the fire."

3 Joshua was wearing dirty clothes and was standing in front of the angel.

4 The angel said to those standing in front of him, "Take off those dirty clothes." Then the angel said to Joshua, "Look, I have taken away your sin from you, and I am giving you beautiful, fine clothes."

5 Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and dressed him while the Lord's angel stood there.

6 Then the Lord's angel said to Joshua,

7 "This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'If you do as I tell you and serve me, you will be in charge of my Temple and my courtyards. And I will let you be with these angels who are standing here.

8 "'Listen, Joshua, the high priest, and your friends who are sitting in front of you. They are symbols of what will happen. I am going to bring my servant called the Branch.

9 Look, I put this stone in front of Joshua, a stone with seven sides. I will carve a message on it,' says the Lord All-Powerful. 'And in one day I will take away the sin of this land.'

10 "The Lord All-Powerful says, 'In that day, each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your own grapevine and under your own fig tree.'"

1 Then the angel who was talking with me returned and woke me up as if I had been asleep.

2 He asked me, "What do you see?" I said, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top. And there are seven lamps and also seven places for wicks.

3 There are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on the left."

4 I asked the angel who talked with me, "Sir, what are these?"

5 The angel said, "Don't you know what they are?" "No, sir," I said.

6 Then he told me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'You will not succeed by your own strength or power, but by my Spirit,' says the Lord All-Powerful.

7 "Who are you, big mountain? In front of Zerubbabel you will become flat land, and he will bring out the topmost stone, shouting, 'It's beautiful! It's beautiful!'"

8 Then the Lord spoke his word to me again, saying,

9 "Zerubbabel has laid the foundation of this Temple, and he will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord All-Powerful has sent me to you.

10 "The people should not think that small beginnings are unimportant. They will be happy when they see Zerubbabel with tools, building the Temple. "(These are the seven eyes of the Lord, which look back and forth across the earth.)"

11 Then I asked the angel, "What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?"

12 I also asked him, "What are the two olive branches beside the two gold pipes, from which the olive oil flows to the lamps?"

13 He answered, "Don't you know what they are?" "No, sir," I said.

14 So he said, "They are symbols of the two who have been appointed to serve the Lord of all the earth."

1 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.

2 The angel asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll, thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide."

3 And he said to me, "This is the curse that will go all over the land. One side says every thief will be taken away. The other side says everyone who makes false promises will be taken away.

4 The Lord All-Powerful says, 'I will send it to the houses of thieves and to those who use my name to make false promises. The scroll will stay in that person's house and destroy it with its wood and stones.'"

5 Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said to me, "Look up and see what is going out."

6 "What is it?" I asked. He answered, "It is a measuring basket going out." He also said, "It is a symbol of the people's sins in all the land."

7 Then the lid made of lead was raised, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.

8 The angel said, "The woman stands for wickedness." Then he pushed her back into the basket and put the lid back down.

9 Then I looked up and saw two women going out with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and the sky.

10 I asked the angel who was talking with me, "Where are they taking the basket?"

11 "They are going to Babylonia to build a temple for it," he answered. "When the temple is ready, they will set the basket there in its place."

1 I looked up again and saw four chariots going out between two mountains, mountains of bronze.

2 Red horses pulled the first chariot. Black horses pulled the second chariot.

3 White horses pulled the third chariot, and strong, spotted horses pulled the fourth chariot.

4 I asked the angel who was talk- ing with me, "What are these, sir?"

5 He said, "These are the four spirits of heaven. They have just come from the presence of the Lord of the whole world.

6 The chariot pulled by the black horses will go to the land of the north. The white horses will go to the land of the west, and the spotted horses will go to the land of the south."

7 When the powerful horses went out, they were eager to go through all the earth. So he said, "Go through all the earth," and they did.

8 Then he called to me, "Look, the horses that went north have caused my spirit to rest in the land of the north."

9 The Lord spoke his word to me, saying,

10 "Take silver and gold from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who were captives in Babylon. Go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah, who came from Babylon.

11 Make the silver and gold into a crown, and put it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

12 Tell him this is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'A man whose name is the Branch will branch out from where he is, and he will build the Temple of the Lord.

13 One mann will build the Temple of the Lord, and the othern will receive honor. One man will sit on his throne and rule, and the other will be a priest on his throne. And these two men will work together in peace.'

14 The crown will be kept in the Temple of the Lord to remind Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Josiah son of Zephaniah.

15 People living far away will come and build the Temple of the Lord. Then you will know the Lord All-Powerful has sent me to you. This will happen if you completely obey the Lord your God."

1 In the fourth year Darius was king, on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is called Kislev, the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah.

2 The city of Bethel sent Sharezer, Regem-Melech, and their men to ask the Lord a question.

3 They went to the prophets and priests who were at the Temple of the Lord All-Powerful. The men said, "For years in the fifth month of each year we have shown our sadness and gone without food. Should we continue to do this?"

4 The Lord All-Powerful spoke his word to me, saying,

5 "Tell the priests and the people in the land: 'For seventy years you went without food and cried in the fifth and seventh months, but that was not really for me.

6 And when you ate and drank, it was really for yourselves.

7 The Lord used the earlier prophets to say the same thing, when Jerusalem and the surrounding towns were at peace and wealthy, and people lived in the southern area and the western hills.'"

8 And the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah again, saying,

9 "This is what the Lord All-Powerful says: 'Do what is right and true. Be kind and merciful to each other.

10 Don't hurt widows and orphans, foreigners or the poor; don't even think of doing evil to somebody else.'

11 "But they refused to pay attention; they were stubborn and did not want to listen anymore.

12 They made their hearts as hard as rock and would not listen to the teachings of the Lord All-Powerful. And they would not hear the words he sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the Lord All-Powerful became very angry.

13 "'When I called to them, they would not listen. So when they called to me, I would not listen,' says the Lord All-Powerful.

14 'I scattered them like a hurricane to other countries they did not know. This good land was left so ruined behind them that no one could live there. They had made the desired land a ruin.'"