Zechariah 1
1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo the prophet:
2 The LORD was very angry with your ancestors.
3 Tell them: “This is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the LORD of Armies.”
4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: “This is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Turn back from your evil ways and your wicked deeds.’” But they did not listen or pay attention to me, says the LORD.
5 Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever?
6 But didn’t my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, catch up with your ancestors? They turned back and said, ‘The LORD of Armies has dealt with us as our ways and deeds deserved, just as he had planned to do.’”
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo the prophet:
8 I saw this vision by night: there was a man riding a red horse, standing among the myrtles in the valley; behind him were red, chestnut, and white horses.
9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was speaking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.”
10 Then the man standing among the myrtles answered, “These are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
11 They reported to the Angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtles: “We have patrolled the earth, and the whole earth is quiet and at peace.”
12 Then the Angel of the LORD said, “LORD of Armies, how long will you withhold compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?”
13 The LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with kind, comforting words.
14 Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this: This is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘I am deeply zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.
15 I am very angry with the nations at ease, for I was only a little angry, but they made matters worse.’
16 Therefore, this is what the LORD says: ‘I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be rebuilt there,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.’
17 Proclaim this further: This is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity. The LORD will again comfort Zion and will again choose Jerusalem.’”
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