⁵¹ from the blood of ^(A)Abel to the blood of ^(B)Zechariah, who perished between ^(C)the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, it will be ^(D)required of this generation.

Joash's Treachery

^20 (A)Then the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah ^(B)the son of Jehoiada the priest, and he stood above the people, and said to them, “Thus says God, ^(C)‘Why do you break the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? ^(D)Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has forsaken you.’” ²¹ But ^(E)they conspired against him, ^(F)and by command of the king they stoned him with stones in the court of the house of the Lord. ²² Thus Joash the king did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah's father, had shown him, but killed his son. And when he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see ^(G)and avenge!”^[a]

⁴ By faith ^(A)Abel offered to God ^(B)a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And ^(C)through his faith, though he died, he ^(D)still speaks.

³⁵ so that on you may come all ^(A)the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous ^(B)Abel to the blood of ^(C)Zechariah the son of Barachiah,^[a] whom you murdered between ^(D)the sanctuary and ^(E)the altar.

¹² We should not be like ^(A)Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? ^(B)Because his own deeds were evil and his brother's righteous.

A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, ^(A)in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^(B)Zechariah, the son of ^(C)Berechiah, son of ^(D)Iddo, saying,

⁸ Cain spoke to Abel his brother.^[a] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and ^(A)killed him. ⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, ^(B)“I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?” ¹⁰ And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood ^(C)is crying to me from the ground. ¹¹ And now ^(D)you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand.

²⁴ and to Jesus, ^(A)the mediator of a new covenant, and to ^(B)the sprinkled blood ^(C)that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

²⁸ And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God, and did not accept discipline; ^(A)truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.