The Four Chariots

6 Now I raised my eyes again and looked, and behold, ^(A)four chariots were going out from between the two mountains; and the mountains were bronze mountains. ² With the first chariot were ^(B)red horses, with the second chariot ^(C)black horses, ³ with the third chariot ^(D)white horses, and with the fourth chariot strong ^(E)spotted horses. ⁴ So I responded and said to the angel who was speaking with me, “^(F)What are these, my lord?” ⁵ The angel replied to me, “These are the ^(G)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 ^(H)north country; and the white ones are to go out after them, while the spotted ones are to go out to the ^(I)south country.” ⁷ When the strong ones went out, they ^[a]were eager to go to ^[b](J)patrol the earth. And He said, “Go, ^[c]patrol the earth.” So they ^[d]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 ^[e](K)appeased My wrath in the land of the north.”

⁹ The ^(L)word of the Lord also came to me, saying, ¹⁰ “^(M)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 ^(N)crown, and set it on the head of ^(O)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 ^[f](P)Branch, for He will ^[g](Q)branch out from where He is; and He will ^(R)build the temple of the Lord. ¹³ Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He who will ^(S)bear the majesty and sit and ^(T)rule on His throne. So He will be a ^(U)priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two ^[h]offices.”’ ¹⁴ Now the ^(V)crown will become a reminder in the temple of the Lord to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and ^[i]Hen the son of Zephaniah. ^15 (W)Those who are far away will come and ^[j]build the temple of the Lord.” Then you will ^(X)know that the Lord of armies has sent me to you. And it will take place if you completely ^(Y)obey ^[k]the Lord your God.

³ At that time ^(A)Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, and Shethar-bozenai and their colleagues came to them and spoke to them as follows: “^(B)Who issued you a decree to rebuild this ^[a]temple and to finish this structure?” ^4 (C)Then we told them accordingly what the names of the men were who were reconstructing this building. ⁵ But ^(D)the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report could reach Darius, and then the decree concerning it could be sent back.

Enemies Write to Darius

⁶ This is the copy of the letter that ^(E)Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, and Shethar-bozenai and his colleagues ^(F)the officials, who were beyond the River, sent to Darius the king. ⁷ They sent the report to him in which it was written as follows: “To Darius the king, all peace. ⁸ May it be known to the king that we have gone to the province of Judah, to the house of the great God which is being built with large stones, and ^[b]beams are being laid in the walls; and this work is being performed with great care and is succeeding in their hands. ⁹ Then we asked those elders and said to them as follows: ‘Who issued you a decree to rebuild this temple and to finish this structure?’ ¹⁰ We also asked them their names so as to inform you, in order that we might write down the names of the men who were ^[c]in charge. ¹¹ So they ^[d]answered us as follows, saying, ‘We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and are rebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, ^(G)which a great king of Israel built and finished. ¹² But ^(H)because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, ^(I)He handed them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and deported the people to Babylon. ¹³ However, ^(J)in the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus ^(K)issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. ¹⁴ Also ^(L)the gold and silver utensils of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought them to the temple of Babylon, King Cyrus took them from the temple of Babylon and they were given to one ^(M)whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor. ¹⁵ And he said to him, “Take these utensils, go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem, and have the house of God rebuilt in its place.” ¹⁶ Then that Sheshbazzar came and ^(N)laid the foundations of the house of God in Jerusalem; and from then until now it has been under construction and it is ^(O)not yet completed.’ ¹⁷ And now, if it pleases the king, ^(P)let a search be conducted in the king’s treasure house, which is there in Babylon, as to whether a decree was issued by King Cyrus to rebuild this house of God in Jerusalem; and let the king send to us his decision concerning this matter.”

Darius Finds Cyrus’ Decree

6 Then King Darius issued a decree, and a ^(Q)search was conducted in the ^[e]archives, where the treasures were stored in Babylon. ² And in ^[f]Ecbatana, in the fortress which is ^(R)in the province of Media, a scroll was found; and the following was written in it: “Memorandum— ^3 (S)In the first year of King Cyrus, Cyrus the king issued a decree: ‘Concerning the house of God in Jerusalem, let the ^[g]temple, the place where sacrifices are offered, be rebuilt, and let ^[h]its foundations be repaired, its height being ^[i]sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, ^4 (T)with three layers of large stones and ^[j]one layer of timber. And the cost is to be paid from the ^[k]royal treasury. ⁵ Also ^(U)the gold and silver utensils of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned and ^[l]brought to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; and you shall put them in the house of God.’

⁶ “Now as for you, ^(V)Tattenai, governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and ^[m]your colleagues, the officials of the provinces beyond the River, ^[n]stay away from there. ⁷ Leave that work on the house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild that house of God on its site. ⁸ Furthermore, ^(W)I issue a decree concerning what you are to do for these elders of Judah in the rebuilding of that house of God: the full cost is to be paid to those people from the royal treasury out of the taxes of the provinces beyond the Euphrates River, and that without interruption. ⁹ And whatever is needed, bulls, rams, and lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine, and anointing oil, as the priests in Jerusalem order, it is to be given to them daily without fail, ¹⁰ so that they may offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and ^(X)pray for the lives of the king and his sons. ¹¹ And I issued a decree that ^(Y)any person who violates this decree, a timber shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be impaled on it; and ^(Z)his house shall be turned into a refuse heap on account of this. ¹² May the God who ^(AA)has caused His name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who ^[o]attempts to ^[p]change it, so as to destroy that house of God in Jerusalem. I, Darius, have issued this decree; it is to be carried out with all diligence!”

The Temple Completed and Dedicated

¹³ Then ^(AB)Tattenai, the governor of the province beyond the Euphrates River, Shethar-bozenai, and their colleagues carried out the decree with all diligence, just as King Darius had ^[q]ordered. ¹⁴ And ^(AC)the elders of the Jews ^[r]were successful in building through the prophecy of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And ^[s]they finished building following the command of the God of Israel and the decree ^(AD)of Cyrus, ^(AE)Darius, and ^(AF)Artaxerxes king of Persia.

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 ^(A)Chislev. ² Now the town of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regemmelech and ^[a]their men to ^[b](B)seek the favor of the Lord, ³ speaking to the ^(C)priests who belong to the house of the Lord of armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Shall I weep in the ^(D)fifth month ^[c]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 ^[d]these ^(E)seventy years, was it actually for ^(F)Me that you fasted? ⁶ And when you eat and drink, ^[e]do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? ⁷ Are these not the words which the Lord ^(G)proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and ^(H)carefree along with its cities around it, and the ^[f](I)Negev and the ^[g]foothills were inhabited?’”

⁸ Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, ⁹ “This is what the Lord of armies has said: ‘^(J)Dispense true justice and practice ^(K)kindness and compassion each to his brother; ¹⁰ and ^(L)do not oppress the widow or the ^[h]orphan, the stranger or the poor; and do ^(M)not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’ ¹¹ But they ^(N)refused to pay attention, and ^[i](O)turned a stubborn shoulder and ^[j](P)plugged their ears from hearing. ¹² They also made their ^(Q)hearts as hard as ^(R)a diamond ^[k]so that they could not hear the Law and the ^(S)words which the Lord of armies had sent by His Spirit through the ^(T)former prophets; therefore great ^(U)wrath came from the Lord of armies. ¹³ And just as ^(V)He called and they would not listen, so ^(W)they called and I would not listen,” says the Lord of armies; ¹⁴ “but I ^[l](X)scattered them with a ^(Y)storm wind among all the nations whom they did not know. So the land was ^(Z)desolated behind them ^[m]so that ^(AA)no one went back and forth, since they ^(AB)made the pleasant land desolate.”

The Coming Peace and Prosperity of Zion

8 Then the word of the Lord of armies came, saying, ² “The Lord of armies says this: ‘I am ^(AC)exceedingly jealous for Zion, yes, with great wrath I am jealous for her.’ ³ The Lord says this: ‘I will return to Zion and ^(AD)dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of ^(AE)Truth, and the mountain of the Lord of armies will be called the Holy Mountain.’ ⁴ The Lord of armies says this: ‘^(AF)Old men and old women will again sit in the public squares of Jerusalem, each person with his staff in his hand because of ^[n]age. ⁵ And the public squares of the city will be filled with ^(AG)boys and girls playing in its squares.’ ⁶ The Lord of armies says this: ‘If it is ^(AH)too difficult in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, will it also be ^(AI)too difficult in My sight?’ declares the Lord of armies. ⁷ The Lord of armies says this: ‘Behold, I am going to save My people from the land of the ^[o](AJ)east and from the land of the ^[p]west; ⁸ and I will ^(AK)bring them back and they will ^(AL)live in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be ^(AM)My people, and I will be their God in ^[q]truth and righteousness.’

⁹ “The Lord of armies says this: ‘Let your hands be ^(AN)strong, you who are listening in these days to these words from the mouth of the ^(AO)prophets, those who spoke in the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of armies was laid, so that the temple might be built. ¹⁰ For before those days there was ^(AP)no wage for man nor any wage for animal; and for him who went out or came in there was no ^[r](AQ)peace because of ^[s]his enemies, and I ^(AR)sent all the people against one another. ¹¹ But now I will ^(AS)not ^[t]treat the remnant of this people as in the former days,’ declares the Lord of armies. ¹² ‘For there will be ^(AT)the seed of peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the heavens will provide their ^(AU)dew; and I will give to the remnant of this people ^(AV)all these things as an inheritance. ¹³ And it will come about that just as you were a ^(AW)curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you that you may become a ^(AX)blessing. Do not fear; let your ^(AY)hands be strong.’

¹⁴ “For this is what the Lord of armies says: ‘Just as I ^(AZ)determined to do harm to you when your fathers provoked Me to anger,’ says the Lord of armies, ‘and I have not ^(BA)relented, ¹⁵ so I have again determined in these days to ^(BB)do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. ^(BC)Do not fear! ¹⁶ These are the things which you shall do: speak the ^(BD)truth to one another; ^(BE)judge with truth and judgment for peace at your ^[u]gates. ¹⁷ Also let none of you ^(BF)devise evil in your heart against another, and do not love ^[v](BG)perjury; for all these things are what I ^(BH)hate,’ declares the Lord.”

¹⁸ Then the word of the Lord of armies came to me, saying, ¹⁹ “The Lord of armies says this: ‘The fast of the ^(BI)fourth, the fast of the ^(BJ)fifth, the fast of the ^(BK)seventh, and the fast of the ^(BL)tenth months will become ^(BM)joy, jubilation, and ^[w]cheerful festivals for the house of Judah; so ^(BN)love truth and peace.’

²⁰ “The Lord of armies says this: ‘It will yet turn out that ^(BO)peoples will come, that is, the inhabitants of many cities. ²¹ The inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, “Let’s go at once to ^(BP)plead for the favor of the Lord, and to seek the Lord of armies; ^[x]I also will go.” ²² So ^(BQ)many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of armies in Jerusalem, and to ^(BR)plead for the favor of the Lord.’ ²³ The Lord of armies says this: ‘In those days ten people from all the ^[y]nations will ^[z](BS)grasp the ^[aa]garment of a Jew, saying, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”’”