Zechariah 5-7

New American Standard Bible

The Flying Scroll

5 Then I raised my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying ^(A)scroll. ² And he said to me, “^(B)What do you see?” And I said, “I see a flying scroll; its length is ^[a]twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.” ³ Then he said to me, “This is the ^(C)curse that is going forth over the face of the entire ^[b]land; everyone who ^(D)steals certainly will be purged away according to ^[c]the writing on one side, and everyone who ^(E)swears falsely will be purged away according to ^[d]the writing on the other side. ⁴ I will ^(F)make it go forth,” declares the Lord of armies, “and it will ^(G)enter the house of the ^(H)thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and ^(I)destroy it with its timber and stones.”

⁵ Then ^(J)the angel who had been speaking with me went out and said to me, “Now raise your eyes and see what this is that is going forth.” ⁶ And I said, “What is it?” Then he said, “This is the ^[e](K)ephah going forth.” Again he said, “This is their ^[f]appearance in all the ^[g]land. ⁷ And behold, a lead cover was lifted up.” He continued, “And this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.” ⁸ Then he said, “This is ^(L)Wickedness!” And he thrust her into the middle of the ephah and threw the lead weight on its ^[h]opening. ⁹ Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of the ^(M)stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. ¹⁰ So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” ¹¹ Then he said to me, “To build a ^[i]temple for her in the land of ^(N)Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”

The Four Chariots

6 Now I raised my eyes again and looked, and behold, ^(O)four chariots were going out from between the two mountains; and the mountains were bronze mountains. ² With the first chariot were ^(P)red horses, with the second chariot ^(Q)black horses, ³ with the third chariot ^(R)white horses, and with the fourth chariot strong ^(S)spotted horses. ⁴ So I responded and said to the angel who was speaking with me, “^(T)What are these, my lord?” ⁵ The angel replied to me, “These are the ^(U)four spirits of heaven, going out after taking their stand before the Lord of all the earth, ⁶ with one of which the black horses are going out to the ^(V)north country; and the white ones are to go out after them, while the spotted ones are to go out to the ^(W)south country.” ⁷ When the strong ones went out, they ^[j]were eager to go to ^[k](X)patrol the earth. And He said, “Go, ^[l]patrol the earth.” So they ^[m]patrolled the earth. ⁸ Then He called out to me and spoke to me, saying, “See, those who are going to the land of the north have ^[n](Y)appeased My wrath in the land of the north.”

⁹ The ^(Z)word of the Lord also came to me, saying, ¹⁰ “^(AA)Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah; and you shall go the same day and enter the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have arrived from Babylon.

The Symbolic Crowns

¹¹ Also take silver and gold, make an ornate ^(AB)crown, and set it on the head of ^(AC)Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. ¹² Then say to him, ‘The Lord of armies says this: “Behold, there is a Man whose name is ^[o](AD)Branch, for He will ^[p](AE)branch out from where He is; and He will ^(AF)build the temple of the Lord. ¹³ Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will ^(AG)bear the majesty and sit and ^(AH)rule on His throne. So He will be a ^(AI)priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two ^[q]offices.”’ ¹⁴ Now the ^(AJ)crown will become a reminder in the temple of the Lord to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and ^[r]Hen the son of Zephaniah. ^15 (AK)Those who are far away will come and ^[s]build the temple of the Lord.” Then you will ^(AL)know that the Lord of armies has sent me to you. And it will take place if you completely ^(AM)obey ^[t]the Lord your God.

7 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 ^(AN)Chislev. ² Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and ^[u]their men to ^[v](AO)seek the favor of the Lord, ³ speaking to the ^(AP)priests who belong to the house of the Lord of armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the ^(AQ)fifth month ^[w]and fast, as I have done these many years?” ⁴ Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying, ⁵ “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months ^[x]these ^(AR)seventy years, was it actually for ^(AS)Me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you eat and drink, ^[y]do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Are these not the words which the Lord ^(AT)proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and ^(AU)carefree along with its cities around it, and the ^[z](AV)Negev and the ^[aa]foothills were inhabited?’”

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ “This is what the Lord of armies has said: ‘^(AW)Dispense true justice and practice ^(AX)kindness and compassion each to his brother; ¹⁰ and ^(AY)do not oppress the widow or the ^[ab]orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do ^(AZ)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ ¹¹ But they ^(BA)refused to pay attention, and ^[ac](BB)turned a stubborn shoulder and ^[ad](BC)plugged their ears from hearing. ¹² They also made their ^(BD)hearts as hard as ^(BE)a diamond ^[ae]so that they could not hear the Law and the ^(BF)words which the Lord of armies had sent by His Spirit through the ^(BG)former prophets; therefore great ^(BH)wrath came from the Lord of armies. ¹³ And just as ^(BI)He called and they would not listen, so ^(BJ)they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of armies; ¹⁴ “but I ^[af](BK)scattered them with a ^(BL)storm wind among all the nations whom they did not know. So the land was ^(BM)desolated behind them ^[ag]so that ^(BN)no one went back and forth, since they ^(BO)made the pleasant land desolate.”