Shared Word Translation
Zechariah 1
Return to Me
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet:
“The LORD was very angry with your ancestors.
Therefore say to them: Thus says the LORD of Hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.
Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD of Hosts: Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, says the LORD.
Your ancestors—where are they? And the prophets—do they live forever?
But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors?”
Then they returned and said, “Just as the LORD of Hosts intended to do to us according to our ways and our deeds, so the LORD has dealt with us.”
First Vision: The Horsemen
On 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 Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet:
I saw in the night, and there was a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the ravine, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
Then I said, “My lord, what are these?”
And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”
Then the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, “These are the ones whom the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
And they answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth, and look—the whole earth is still and at rest.”
The LORD Will Comfort Zion
Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, “O LORD of Hosts, how long will you withhold compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?”
And the LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with good words, comforting words.
Then the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying: Thus says the LORD of Hosts:
I am deeply jealous for Jerusalem
and for Zion,
and I am very angry
with the nations that are at ease.
For I was angry only a little,
but they made the disaster worse.
Therefore, thus says the LORD:
I have returned to Jerusalem
with compassion.
My house shall be built in it,
says the LORD of Hosts,
and a measuring line shall be stretched
over Jerusalem.
Proclaim again, saying: Thus says the LORD of Hosts:
My cities shall again overflow with good,
and the LORD shall again comfort Zion
and again choose Jerusalem.”
Second Vision: The Horns and Craftsmen
Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and there were four horns.
I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”
And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
And I said, “What are these coming to do?”
He said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so completely that no one could raise their head. But these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”