A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In November^[a] of the second year of King Darius’s reign, the Lord gave this message to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah and grandson of Iddo:

² “I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors. ³ Therefore, say to the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.’ ⁴ Don’t be like your ancestors who would not listen or pay attention when the earlier prophets said to them, ‘This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: Turn from your evil ways, and stop all your evil practices.’

⁵ “Where are your ancestors now? They and the prophets are long dead. ⁶ But everything I said through my servants the prophets happened to your ancestors, just as I said. As a result, they repented and said, ‘We have received what we deserved from the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. He has done what he said he would do.’”

Future Prosperity of Jerusalem

2 ^[a]When I looked again, I saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. ² “Where are you going?” I asked.

He replied, “I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”

³ Then the angel who was with me went to meet a second angel who was coming toward him. ⁴ The other angel said, “Hurry, and say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem will someday be so full of people and livestock that there won’t be room enough for everyone! Many will live outside the city walls. ⁵ Then I, myself, will be a protective wall of fire around Jerusalem, says the Lord. And I will be the glory inside the city!’”

The Exiles Are Called Home

⁶ The Lord says, “Come away! Flee from Babylon in the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds. ⁷ Come away, people of Zion, you who are exiled in Babylon!”

⁸ After a period of glory, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me^[b] against the nations who plundered you. For he said, “Anyone who harms you harms my most precious possession.^{[c] 9} I will raise my fist to crush them, and their own slaves will plunder them.” Then you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sent me.

¹⁰ The Lord says, “Shout and rejoice, O beautiful Jerusalem,^[d] for I am coming to live among you. ¹¹ Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day, and they, too, will be my people. I will live among you, and you will know that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me to you. ¹² The land of Judah will be the Lord’s special possession in the holy land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem to be his own city. ¹³ Be silent before the Lord, all humanity, for he is springing into action from his holy dwelling.”

Future Deliverance for Jerusalem

12 This^[a] message concerning the fate of Israel came from the Lord: “This message is from the Lord, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, and formed the human spirit. ² I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations stagger when they send their armies to besiege Jerusalem and Judah. ³ On that day I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations will gather against it to try to move it, but they will only hurt themselves.

⁴ “On that day,” says the Lord, “I will cause every horse to panic and every rider to lose his nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of their enemies. ⁵ And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem have found strength in the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, their God.’

⁶ “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They will burn up all the neighboring nations right and left, while the people living in Jerusalem remain secure.

⁷ “The Lord will give victory to the rest of Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David will not have greater honor than the rest of Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will defend the people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them will be as mighty as King David! And the royal descendants will be like God, like the angel of the Lord who goes before them! ⁹ For on that day I will begin to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰ “Then I will pour out a spirit^[b] of grace and prayer on the family of David and on the people of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they have pierced and mourn for him as for an only son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a firstborn son who has died. ¹¹ The sorrow and mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the valley of Megiddo.

¹² “All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself, and with the husbands separate from their wives. The clan of David will mourn alone, as will the clan of Nathan, ¹³ the clan of Levi, and the clan of Shimei. ¹⁴ Each of the surviving clans from Judah will mourn separately, and with the husbands separate from their wives.