Zechariah 1:1-6

Christian Standard Bible

A Plea for Repentance

1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius,^(A) the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah^(B) son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: ² “The Lord was extremely angry with your ancestors.^{(C) 3} So tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Return to me—this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies—and I will return to you, says the Lord of Armies.^{(D) 4} Do not be like your ancestors;^(E) the earlier prophets proclaimed to them:^(F) This is what the Lord of Armies says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.^(G) But they did not listen or pay attention to me—this is the Lord’s declaration. ⁵ Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever? ⁶ But didn’t my words and my statutes that I commanded my servants the prophets overtake your ancestors?’”

So the people repented and said, “As the Lord of Armies decided to deal with us for our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.”^(H)