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

“The Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors.

Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not listen or pay attention to Me”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

“Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever?

But didn’t My words and My statutes that I commanded My servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? They repented and said: As the Lord of Hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so He has dealt with us.”

The Night VisionsOn 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 son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made it worse.

So I asked 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.”

I asked, “What are they coming to do?”

He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”

“Go, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.”

For the Lord of Hosts says this: “He has sent Me for His glory against the nations who are plundering you, for anyone who touches you touches the pupil of His eye.

So the Angel of the Lord spoke to those standing before Him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then He said to him, “See, I have removed your guilt from you, and I will clothe you with splendid robes.”

“This is what the Lord of Hosts says: If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, you will both rule My house and take care of My courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

“Listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your colleagues sitting before you; indeed, these men are a sign that I am about to bring My servant, the Branch.

Notice the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. I will engrave an inscription on it”—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—“and I will take away the guilt of this land in a single day.

There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

“Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me.

I said, “No, my lord.”

So he answered me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of Hosts.

‘What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!’”

I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”

And I questioned him further, “What are the two olive branches beside the two gold conduits, from which golden oil pours out?”

Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

“No, my lord,” I replied.

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

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

So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. And the mountains were made of bronze.

So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth.

The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south.”

You are to tell him: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Here is a man whose name is Branch; He will branch out from His place and build the Lord’s temple.

People who are far off will come and build the Lord’s temple, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the Lord your God.”

In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Hosts as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

Aren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.

They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of Hosts.

“I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”

The Lord of Hosts says this: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words that the prophets spoke when the foundations were laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the Lord of Hosts.

For prior to those days neither man nor beast had wages. There was no safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I turned everyone against his neighbor.

As you have been a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Don’t be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

For the Lord of Hosts says this: “As I resolved to treat you badly when your fathers provoked Me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the Lord of Hosts,

These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your gates.

Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this”—this is the Lord’s declaration.

An Oracle

The word of the Lord
is against the land of Hadrach,
and Damascus is its resting place—
for the eyes of men
and all the tribes of Israel
are on the Lord—

and also against Hamath, which borders it,
as well as Tyre and Sidon,
though they are very shrewd.

I will remove the blood from their mouths
and the detestable things
from between their teeth.
Then they too will become a remnant for our God;
they will become like a clan in Judah
and Ekron like the Jebusites.

Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem!
Look, your King is coming to you;
He is righteous and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim
and the horse from Jerusalem.
The bow of war will be removed,
and He will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will extend from sea to sea,
from the Euphrates River
to the ends of the earth.

As for you,
because of the blood of your covenant,
I will release your prisoners
from the waterless cistern.

For I will bend Judah as My bow;
I will fill that bow with Ephraim.
I will rouse your sons, Zion,
against your sons, Greece.
I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

Then the Lord will appear over them,
and His arrow will fly like lightning.
The Lord God will sound the trumpet
and advance with the southern storms.

The Lord their God will save them on that day
as the flock of His people;
for they are like jewels in a crown,
sparkling over His land.

I will whistle and gather them
because I have redeemed them;
they will be as numerous as they once were.

Open your gates, Lebanon,
and fire will consume your cedars.

Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen;
the glorious trees are destroyed!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
for the stately forest has fallen!

Listen to the wail of the shepherds,
for their glory is destroyed.
Listen to the roar of young lions,
for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

It was annulled on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves.

Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Hosts, their God.

If someone asks him: What are these wounds on your chest?—then he will answer: I received the wounds in the house of my friends.

I will put this third through the fire;
I will refine them as silver is refined
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
and I will answer them.
I will say: They are My people,
and they will say: Yahweh is our God.”

A day of the Lord is coming when your plunder will be divided in your presence.

It will be a day known only to Yahweh, without day or night, but there will be light at evening.

The same plague as the previous one will strike the horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the animals that are in those camps.

Then all the survivors from the nations that came against Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.