A Plea for Repentance

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius,^(A) the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah^(B) son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: ² “The Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors.^{(C) 3} So tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Return to me—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and I will return to you, says the Lord of Armies.^{(D) 4} Do not be like your ancestors;^(E) the earlier prophets proclaimed to them:^(F) This is what the Lord of Armies says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.^(G) But they did not listen or pay attention to me—this is the Lord’s declaration. ⁵ Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever? ⁶ But didn’t my words and my statutes that I commanded my servants the prophets overtake your ancestors?’”

So the people repented and said, “As the Lord of Armies decided to deal with us for our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.”^(H)

The Night Visions

⁷ On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

First Vision: Horsemen

⁸ I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a chestnut^[a] horse.^(I) He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley.^[b] Behind him were chestnut, brown, and white horses. ⁹ I asked, “What are these, my lord?”

The angel who was talking to me replied, “I will show you what they are.”

¹⁰ Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”

¹¹ They reported to the angel of the Lord standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”^(J)

¹² Then the angel of the Lord responded, “How long, Lord of Armies, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that you have been angry with these seventy years?” ^{(K) 13} The Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

¹⁴ So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The Lord of Armies says: I am extremely jealous^(L) for Jerusalem and Zion. ¹⁵ I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease,^(M) for I was a little angry, but they made the destruction worse.^{[c] 16} Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.^(N)

¹⁷ “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”^(O)

Second Vision: Four Horns and Craftsmen

¹⁸ Then I looked up and saw four horns.^{(P) 19} So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”

And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰ Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. ²¹ I asked, “What are they coming to do?”

He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off^[d] the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Third Vision: Surveyor

2 I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ² I asked, “Where are you going?”

He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”

³ Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him. ⁴ He said to him, “Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the number of people and animals in it.”^{(Q) 5} The declaration of the Lord: “I myself will be a wall^(R) of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it.”

⁶ “Listen! Listen! Flee from the land of the north”^(S)—this is the Lord’s declaration—“for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ⁷ “Listen, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.” ⁸ For the Lord of Armies says this: “In pursuit of his glory, he sent me against the nations plundering you, for whoever touches you touches the pupil^[e] of my^[f] eye. ⁹ For look, I am raising my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own servants.^(T) Then you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me.

¹⁰ “Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you”—this is the Lord’s declaration. ¹¹ “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become my^[g] people.^(U) I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. ¹² The Lord will take possession of Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem.^{(V) 13} Let all humanity be silent^(W) before the Lord, for from his holy dwelling he has roused himself.”

Judah’s Security

12 A pronouncement:

² “Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering^(C) for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah.^{(D) 3} On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.^{(E) 4} On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.^(F) I will keep a watchful eye on^(G) the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. ⁵ Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God. ⁶ On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile,^(H) like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. ⁷ The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem,^(I) so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord, before them.^{(J) 9} On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

¹⁰ “Then I will pour out a spirit^[a](K) of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at^[b] me whom they pierced. They will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for him as one weeps for a firstborn.^{(L) 11} On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s^[c](M) house by itself and their women by themselves; ¹³ the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei^[d](N) by itself and their women by themselves; ¹⁴ all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.