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

²⁰ Then the spirit of God took possession of^[a] Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada; he stood above the people and said to them, “Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord, so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, he has also forsaken you.”^{(A) 21} But they conspired against him, and by command of the king they stoned him to death in the court of the house of the Lord.^{(B) 22} King Joash did not remember the kindness that Jehoiada, Zechariah’s father, had shown him but killed his son. As he was dying, he said, “May the Lord see and avenge!”^(C)

³⁵ so that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

¹² We must not be like Cain, who was from the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.

The Examples of Abel, Enoch, and Noah

⁴ By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable^[a] sacrifice than Cain’s. Through this he received approval as righteous, God himself giving approval to his gifts; he died, but through his faith^[b] he still speaks.^(A)

Israel Urged to Repent

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

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

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

²⁸ 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; truth has perished; it is cut off from their lips.^(A)