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

"The LORD was very displeased with your fathers.

Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;' but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says the LORD.

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

But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did not they overtake your fathers? "Then they repented and said, 'Just as the LORD of hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'"

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

"I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."

The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to go back and forth through the earth."

I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but only a little angry, but they added to the calamity."

I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

Then I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."

Then I asked, "Where are you going?" He said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length."

He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, "Take the filthy garments off of him." To him he said, "Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing."

Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch.

For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave its engraving,' says the LORD of hosts, 'and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

He said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I have seen, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;

I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, "What are these, my lord?"

Then the angel who talked with me answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."

Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace, to it.'"

Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the eyes of the LORD, which run back and forth through the whole earth."

Then I asked him, "What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on the left side of it?"

I asked him the second time, "What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?"

He answered me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."

Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."

Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, "Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that is appearing."

Then lifted I up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky.

Then said I to the angel who talked with me, "Where are these carrying the ephah basket?"

Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.

In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses;

Then I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"

The angel answered me, "These are the four winds of the sky, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.

"Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon.

Those who are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD; and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God."'"

It happened in the fourth year of king Darius that the word of the LORD came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.

Aren't these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the Negev and the lowland were inhabited?'"

Do not oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.'

Thus says the LORD of hosts: "Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.

For before those days there was no wages for man, nor any wages for an animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in, because of the adversary. For I set all men everyone against his neighbor.

It shall come to pass that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing. Do not be afraid. Let your hands be strong."

For thus says the LORD of hosts: "As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath," says the LORD of hosts, "and I did not repent;

These are the things that you shall do: speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,

and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate," says the LORD.

and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.

I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

I will encamp around my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them any more: for now I have seen with my eyes.

Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion. Shout, daughter of Jerusalem. Behold, your king comes to you. He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.

For indeed I bend Judah as a bow for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.

The LORD will be seen over them; and his arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.

The LORD their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they are like the jewels of a crown, lifted on high over his land.

For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.

Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.

Wail, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.

Then I said, "I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other's flesh."

For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.

The chieftains of Judah will say in their heart, 'The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the LORD of hosts their God.'

It will happen in that day, that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision, when he prophesies; neither will they wear a hairy mantle to deceive:

One will say to him, 'What are these wounds between your hands?' Then he will answer, 'Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.'

Behold, a day of the LORD comes, when your spoil will be divided in your midst.

It will happen in that day, that there will not be light, cold, or frost.

It will happen that everyone who is left of all the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of booths.