A Call to Return

1 In the eighth month of the second year^[a] of the reign of^[b] Darius, this message from the Lord came to Berechiah’s son Zechariah,^[c] the grandson of Iddo the prophet: ² “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. ³ So tell them, ‘This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says: “Return to me,” declares the Lord of the Heavenly Armies, “and I will return to you.^{[d] 4} Don’t be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed: ‘This is what the Lord of the Heavenly Armies says: “It’s time to turn from your evil lifestyles^[e] and from your evil actions,” ‘but they would neither listen nor pay attention to me,’” declares the Lord.’ ⁵ “Your ancestors—where are they? And the prophets—do they live forever? ⁶ But my words and my statutes that I gave as commands to my servants the prophets—did they not overwhelm your ancestors? And they returned to me:^[f] ‘The Lord of the Heavenly Armies acted toward us just as he planned to do—in keeping with our lifestyles^[g] and in keeping with our actions.’”