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

"As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever?

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month Shebat, in Darius' second year, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, as follows:

and said to him, "Hurry, speak to this young man as follows: 'Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls because of the multitude of people and animals there.

The Lord will take possession of Judah as his portion in the holy land and he will choose Jerusalem once again.

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel.

As for the stone I have set before Joshua -- on the one stone there are seven eyes. I am about to engrave an inscription on it,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.

The angelic messenger who had been speaking with me then returned and woke me, as a person is wakened from sleep.

Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me as follows:

The word of the Lord came to me as follows:

Indeed, he will build the temple of the Lord, and he will be clothed in splendor, sitting as king on his throne. Moreover, there will be a priest with him on his throne and they will see eye to eye on everything.

The crown will then be turned over to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the Lord.

by asking both the priests of the temple of the Lord who rules over all and the prophets, "Should we weep in the fifth month, fasting as we have done over the years?"

"Speak to all the people and priests of the land as follows: 'When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and seventh months through all these seventy years, did you truly fast for me -- for me, indeed?

Indeed, they made their heart as hard as diamond, so that they could not obey the Torah and the other words the Lord who rules over all had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore, the Lord who rules over all had poured out great wrath.

"'It then came about that just as I cried out, but they would not obey, so they will cry out, but I will not listen,' the Lord Lord who rules over all had said.

Then the word of the Lord who rules over all came to me as follows:

And it will come about that just as you (both Judah and Israel) were a curse to the nations, so I will save you and you will be a blessing. Do not be afraid! Instead, be strong!'

"For the Lord who rules over all says, 'As I had planned to hurt you when your fathers made me angry,' says the Lord who rules over all, 'and I was not sorry,

The word of the Lord who rules over all came to me as follows:

The inhabitants of one will go to another and say, "Let's go up at once to ask the favor of the Lord, to seek the Lord who rules over all. Indeed, I'll go with you."'

Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord who rules over all and to ask his favor.

as are those of Hamath also, which adjoins Damascus, and Tyre and Sidon, though they consider themselves to be very wise.

Ashkelon will see and be afraid; Gaza will be in great anguish, as will Ekron, for her hope will have been dried up. Gaza will lose her king, and Ashkelon will no longer be inhabited.

Then I will surround my temple to protect it like a guard from anyone crossing back and forth; so no one will cross over against them anymore as an oppressor, for now I myself have seen it.

Moreover, as for you, because of our covenant relationship secured with blood, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.

I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow! I will stir up your sons, Zion, against yours, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, like a warrior's sword.

On that day the Lord their God will deliver them as the flock of his people, for they are the precious stones of a crown sparkling over his land.

Ask the Lord for rain in the season of the late spring rains -- the Lord who causes thunderstorms -- and he will give everyone showers of rain and green growth in the field.

For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.

"I (says the Lord) will strengthen the kingdom of Judah and deliver the people of Joseph and will bring them back because of my compassion for them. They will be as though I had never rejected them, for I am the Lord their God and therefore I will hear them.

The Ephraimites will be like warriors and will rejoice as if they had drunk wine. Their children will see it and rejoice; they will celebrate in the things of the Lord.

I will signal for them and gather them, for I have already redeemed them; then they will become as numerous as they were before.

Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well.

I then said, "I will not shepherd you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be eradicated, let it be eradicated. As for those who survive, let them eat each other's flesh!"

"I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn.

On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

Then someone will ask him, 'What are these wounds on your chest?' and he will answer, 'Some that I received in the house of my friends.'

A day of the Lord is about to come when your possessions will be divided as plunder in your midst.

Then the Lord will go to battle and fight against those nations, just as he fought battles in ancient days.

Then you will escape through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him.

The Lord will then be king over all the earth. In that day the Lord will be seen as one with a single name.

On that day the bells of the horses will bear the inscription "Holy to the Lord." The cooking pots in the Lord's temple will be as holy as the bowls in front of the altar.