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Zechariah 1

1 I am Zechariah, a prophet, the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo. When Darius had been the emperor of Persia for almost two years, in the eighth month of that year, Yahweh gave me this message:

2 “Yahweh was very angry with your ancestors. 3 So tell the people this: Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says, ‘Come back to me,’ this is what Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, solemnly declares, ‘and I will help you again,’ says Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies. 4 Do not be like your ancestors. The prophets who lived before you continually told your ancestors that Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, said, ‘Stop doing the evil things that you are doing!’ However, they refused to listen to me or pay attention to me,” solemnly declares Yahweh.

5 “Your ancestors have all died. The prophets also did not live forever.

6 However, the warnings and decrees that I commanded my servants the prophets to tell your ancestors did come true. So your ancestors repented and said, ‘Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, has punished us for the way we behaved and for the things we did, just as he said he would do.’ ”

7 Three months later, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, when Darius had been emperor for almost two years, Yahweh gave another message to me, Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, the prophet. 8 During the night I had a vision. In the vision I saw a man riding a red horse. He stood among the myrtle trees in a deep valley, and behind him other riders sat on red, reddish-brown, and white horses. 9 I asked the angel who had been talking to me, “Sir, who are those riders?” The angel replied, “I will show you who they are.” 10 Then the man who stood among the myrtle trees explained. He said, “Yahweh sent these riders to patrol throughout the earth.”

11 Then those riders reported to an angel representing Yahweh, who stood among the myrtle trees. They said, “We have patrolled throughout the earth, and everywhere the nations are living peacefully and undisturbed.”

12 Then the angel representing Yahweh pleaded, “Yahweh, commander of the heavenly armies, how long will you continue to not show mercy to the people of Jerusalem and the people of the other cities of Judah? You have been angry with them for 70 years!” 13 So Yahweh spoke kind and encouraging words to the angel who had been talking to me. 14 Then the angel who had been talking to me said to me, “Proclaim this message: Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says,

‘I care very deeply about the people of Jerusalem and of Zion.

15 I am extremely angry with the nations that feel so secure. I was only a little angry with my people, but those nations made things much worse by harming them so much.

16 Therefore, this is what Yahweh says: I have once again chosen to show mercy to the people of Jerusalem. They will rebuild my temple there,’ solemnly declares Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, ‘and workers will stretch out a measuring line to rebuild Jerusalem.’

17 Also proclaim this: Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, says, ‘The people of my cities in Judah will once again enjoy many good things, and Yahweh will once again encourage the people of Zion and once again choose Jerusalem as his own city.’ ”

18 Then I looked up and in front of me I saw four horns. 19 I asked the angel who had been talking to me, “What are those?” He replied, “Those horns represent the powerful nations that used their military power to scatter the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” 20 Then Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, “What are these craftsmen coming to do?” He replied, “Those horns represent the powerful nations that scattered the people of Judah so badly that no one could resist them. These craftsmen have come to terrify those nations and to crush the military power that those nations used against the people of Judah to scatter them.”

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