The Vision of the Horses

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

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

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“What are these, my lord?” I asked.

And the angel who was speaking with me replied“I will show you what they are

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

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And [the riders] answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees“We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”

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Then the angel of the LORD said“How long O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”

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So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

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Then the angel who was speaking with me said“Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD of Hosts says:‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.[fn]’

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Therefore this is what the LORD says:‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’

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Proclaim further [that] this is what the LORD of Hosts says:‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion [and] choose Jerusalem.’ ”

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