Zechariah 5-8
English Standard Version
A Vision of a Flying Scroll
5 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying (A)scroll! 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying (B)scroll. Its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”[a] 3 Then he said to me, “This is (C)the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who (D)steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who (E)swears falsely[b] shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side. 4 I will send it out, declares the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of (F)him who swears falsely by my name. And (G)it shall remain in his house and (H)consume it, both timber and stones.”
A Vision of a Woman in a Basket
5 (I)Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, (J)“Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” 6 And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is (K)the basket[c] that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity[d] in all the land.” 7 And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! 8 And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down (L)the leaden weight on its opening.
9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! (M)The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He said to me, “To the (N)land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.”
A Vision of Four Chariots
6 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of (O)bronze. 2 The first chariot had (P)red horses, the second (Q)black horses, 3 the third (R)white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses—all of them strong.[e] 4 Then I answered and said to (S)the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 And the angel answered and said to me, (T)“These are going out to the four winds of heaven,[f] after (U)presenting themselves before (V)the Lord of all the earth. 6 The chariot with the black horses goes toward (W)the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward (X)the south country.” 7 When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and (Y)patrol the earth. And he said, “Go, (Z)patrol the earth.” (AA)So they patrolled the earth. 8 Then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward (AB)the north country have set my Spirit at rest in (AC)the north country.”
The Crown and the Temple
9 And the word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take from the exiles (AD)Heldai, Tobijah, and (AE)Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of (AF)Zephaniah. 11 Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, (AG)and set it on the head of (AH)Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is (AI)the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and (AJ)he shall build the temple of the Lord. 13 (AK)It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord (AL)and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there[g] shall be a (AM)priest on his throne, (AN)and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ 14 And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as (AO)a reminder to (AP)Helem,[h] (AQ)Tobijah, (AR)Jedaiah, and Hen (AS)the son of Zephaniah.
15 (AT)“And those who are far off shall come and (AU)help to build the temple of the Lord. (AV)And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. (AW)And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”
A Call for Justice and Mercy
7 (AX)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 (AY)Chislev. 2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men (AZ)to entreat the favor of the Lord, 3 (BA)saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and (BB)the prophets, “Should I weep and (BC)abstain in (BD)the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in (BE)the fifth month and in (BF)the seventh, for these (BG)seventy years, (BH)was it (BI)for me that you fasted? 6 (BJ)And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 (BK)Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed (BL)by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, (BM)with her cities around her, and the (BN)South and the (BO)lowland were inhabited?’”
8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, (BP)Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 (BQ)do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner, (BR)or the poor, and (BS)let none of you devise evil against another in your heart.” 11 But (BT)they refused to pay attention (BU)and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.[i] 12 (BV)They made their hearts diamond-hard (BW)lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent (BX)by his Spirit through (BY)the former prophets. (BZ)Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. 13 (CA)“As I[j] called, and they would not hear, (CB)so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, 14 (CC)“and I scattered them with a whirlwind among all (CD)the nations that they had not known. (CE)Thus the land they left was desolate, (CF)so that no one went to and fro, (CG)and the pleasant land was made desolate.”
The Coming Peace and Prosperity of Zion
8 And the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: (CH)I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 3 Thus says the Lord: (CI)I have returned to Zion and (CJ)will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, (CK)and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, (CL)and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts: (CM)Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. 6 Thus says the Lord of hosts: (CN)If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, (CO)should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the Lord of hosts? 7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, (CP)I will save my people (CQ)from the east country and from the west country, 8 and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. (CR)And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, (CS)in faithfulness and in righteousness.”
9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: (CT)“Let your hands be strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of (CU)the prophets who were present on (CV)the day that the foundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. 10 For before those days (CW)there was no wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbor. 11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts. 12 (CX)For there shall be a sowing of peace. The vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, (CY)and the heavens shall give their dew. (CZ)And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. 13 And as (DA)you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, (DB)so will I save you, and (DC)you shall be a blessing. (DD)Fear not, but (DE)let your hands be strong.”
14 For thus says the Lord of hosts: (DF)“As I purposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, 15 so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; (DG)fear not. 16 These are the things that you shall do: (DH)Speak the truth to one another; (DI)render in your gates judgments (DJ)that are true and make for peace; 17 (DK)do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and (DL)love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”
18 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 19 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The fast of the (DM)fourth month and the fast of the (DN)fifth and the fast of the (DO)seventh and the fast of the (DP)tenth shall be to the house of Judah (DQ)seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love (DR)truth and peace.
20 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, (DS)‘Let us go at once (DT)to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ 22 (DU)Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and (DV)to entreat the favor of the Lord. 23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days (DW)ten men (DX)from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for (DY)we have heard that God is with you.’”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 5:2 A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
- Zechariah 5:3 Hebrew lacks falsely (supplied from verse 4)
- Zechariah 5:6 Hebrew ephah; also verses 7–11. An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
- Zechariah 5:6 One Hebrew manuscript, Septuagint, Syriac; most Hebrew manuscripts eye
- Zechariah 6:3 Or and the fourth chariot strong dappled horses
- Zechariah 6:5 Or These are the four winds of heaven going out
- Zechariah 6:13 Or he
- Zechariah 6:14 An alternate spelling of Heldai (verse 10)
- Zechariah 7:11 Hebrew and made their ears too heavy to hear
- Zechariah 7:13 Hebrew he
Revelation 16
English Standard Version
The Seven Bowls of God's Wrath
16 Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling (A)the seven angels, “Go and (B)pour out on the earth (C)the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful (D)sores came upon the people who bore (E)the mark of the beast and worshiped its image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and (F)it became like the blood of a corpse, and (G)every living thing died that was in the sea.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl into (H)the rivers and the springs of water, and (I)they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters[a] say,
(J)“Just are you, (K)O Holy One, (L)who is and who was,
for you brought these judgments.
6 For (M)they have shed the blood of (N)saints and prophets,
and (O)you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard (P)the altar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
(Q)true and just are your judgments!”
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people (R)with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and (S)they cursed[b] the name of God who had power over these plagues. (T)They did not repent (U)and give him glory.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on (V)the throne of the beast, and (W)its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed (X)the God of heaven for their pain and (Y)sores. (Z)They did not repent of their deeds.
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on (AA)the great river Euphrates, and (AB)its water was dried up, (AC)to prepare the way for the kings (AD)from the east. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of (AE)the dragon and out of the mouth of (AF)the beast and out of the mouth of (AG)the false prophet, three (AH)unclean spirits like (AI)frogs. 14 For they are (AJ)demonic spirits, (AK)performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, (AL)to assemble them for battle on (AM)the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, (AN)I am coming like a thief! (AO)Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, (AP)that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And (AQ)they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called (AR)Armageddon.
The Seventh Bowl
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into (AS)the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, (AT)“It is done!” 18 And there were (AU)flashes of lightning, rumblings,[c] peals of thunder, and (AV)a great earthquake (AW)such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 (AX)The great city (AY)was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God (AZ)remembered (BA)Babylon the great, (BB)to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And (BC)every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And (BD)great hailstones, about one hundred pounds[d] each, fell from heaven on people; and (BE)they cursed God for (BF)the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
Footnotes
- Revelation 16:5 Greek angel of the waters
- Revelation 16:9 Greek blasphemed; also verses 11, 21
- Revelation 16:18 Or voices, or sounds
- Revelation 16:21 Greek a talent in weight
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
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