Zechariah 6-7
International Children’s Bible
The Vision of the Four Chariots
6 I looked up again. I saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. They were mountains of bronze. 2 Red horses pulled the first chariot. Black horses pulled the second chariot. 3 White horses pulled the third chariot. And strong, spotted horses pulled the fourth chariot. 4 I spoke to the angel who was talking with me. I asked, “What are these, sir?”
5 He said, “These are going to the four directions on earth. They have just come from the presence of the Lord of the whole world. 6 The chariot pulled by the black horses will go north. The white horses will go west. And the spotted horses will go south.”
7 The powerful horses were trying to go through all the earth. So he said, “Go through all the earth.” And they did.
8 Then he called to me, “Look. The horses that went north have calmed the Lord’s anger that came from there to punish.”
A Crown for Joshua
9 The Lord spoke his word to me. He said: 10 “Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah were captives in Babylon. Get silver and gold from them. Go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Make the silver and gold into a crown. And put it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak. Joshua is the high priest. 12 Tell him this is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says: ‘There is a man whose name is the Branch. He will branch out from where he is. He will build the Temple of the Lord. 13 One man[a] will build the Temple of the Lord. And the other[b] will receive the honor of a king. One man will sit on his throne and rule. And the other will be a priest on his throne. And these two men will work together in peace.’ 14 The crown will be kept in the Temple of the Lord. It will remind Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Josiah son of Zephaniah of God’s king. 15 People living far away will come and build the Temple of the Lord. Then you will know the Lord of heaven’s armies has sent me to you. This will happen if you completely obey the Lord your God.”
The People Should Show Mercy
7 It was the fourth year of King Darius’s rule. It was on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is called Kislev. The Lord spoke his word to Zechariah. 2 The city of Bethel sent Sharezer, Regem-Melech and their men to ask the Lord a question. 3 They went to the prophets and priests. They were at the Temple of the Lord of heaven’s armies. The men said, “For years the fifth month of each year has been a special time for us. We have shown our sadness and gone without food in this month. Should we continue to do this?”
4 The Lord of heaven’s armies spoke his word to me. He said, 5 “Tell the priests and the people in the country this: ‘For 70 years you went without food and cried in the fifth and seventh months. But that was not really for me. 6 And when you ate and drank, it was really for yourselves. 7 The Lord used the earlier prophets to say the same thing. Jerusalem and the surrounding towns were at peace and wealthy then. People lived in the southern area and the western mountain slopes.’”
8 And the Lord spoke his word to Zechariah again: 9 “This is what the Lord of heaven’s armies says: ‘Do what is right and fair. Be kind and merciful to each other. 10 Don’t hurt widows and orphans, foreigners or the poor. Don’t even think of doing evil to somebody else.’
11 “But they refused to pay attention. They were stubborn and would not listen. 12 They made their hearts as hard as rock. They would not listen to the teachings of the Lord of heaven’s armies. And they would not hear his words through the earlier prophets. So the Lord of heaven’s armies became very angry.
13 “The Lord of heaven’s armies says, ‘When I called to them, they would not listen. So when they called to me, I would not listen. 14 I scattered them like a hurricane to other countries. These were countries they did not know. This good land was left so ruined that no one could live there.’”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
