Beginning
Return to the Lord
1 When Darius had been king of Persia for two years, Zechariah the prophet heard a message from the Lord.[a] It was the eighth month of the year. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah, and Berekiah was the son of Iddo.
2 This was the Lord's message:
‘I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Now I, the Lord Almighty, say this to you: “If you return to me, I will return to you.” 4 Do not be like your ancestors. Many years ago the prophets gave them a message from me. The message was, “Stop doing those evil and wicked things.” But they did not listen to me. They did not think that my message was important. 5 That was a long time ago. Your ancestors have been dead for a long time. So have the prophets. 6 I told my prophets to speak my message and my commands. I punished your ancestors, as I warned them I would do. Then they turned back to me. They said, “The Lord Almighty has punished us for our sins, as he said he would do.” ’
The man on the red horse
7 On the 24th day of Shebat, the 11th month of the year, the Lord spoke to Zechariah the prophet. This was when Darius had been king for two years.
8 During the night I, Zechariah, had a dream from the Lord. I saw a man on a red horse. The horse was standing among some trees called myrtle trees, in the valley. And behind him were red, brown and white horses.
9 I asked him, ‘My lord, what are these horses?’ The angel who talked with me said, ‘I will show you what they are.’
10 The man who was standing among the trees answered, ‘The Lord has sent these horses to go to all the places on the earth.’
11 And the horses spoke to the angel of the Lord who stood among the trees. They said, ‘We have gone all over the earth. All the earth is without trouble.’
12 Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘Lord Almighty, how long will you be angry with Jerusalem? How long will you be angry with the cities of Judah? You have already been angry for 70 years.’ 13 And the Lord answered the angel with kind words.
14 The angel said to me, ‘Tell this to the people. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I love Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mine. 15 I am very angry with the countries that are safe and without danger. Those countries were too cruel to my people, when I was only a little angry with Jerusalem.” 16 So this is what the Lord says: “I will return to Jerusalem to be kind to the people there. I will build my house again”, says the Lord Almighty, “and I will build the city again.” ’
17 The angel told me that I must say this: ‘The Lord Almighty says, “My towns will be rich again. I will again speak kind words to Jerusalem. I will choose Jerusalem again as my own city.” ’
Four horns and four workers[b]
18 And I looked up and I saw four horns. 19 And I asked the angel that talked with me, ‘What are these horns?’ Then the angel said to me, ‘These are the strong enemies of my people. They took my people out of Judah, out of Israel and out of Jerusalem.’
20 Then the Lord showed me four workers with hammers. 21 I said, ‘What are these men coming to do?’ The Lord answered, ‘The horns are the enemies that destroyed Judah. They destroyed Judah and they made the people ashamed. The workers came to frighten and to destroy the enemies because they killed many of my people. The enemies took many of my people out of Judah.’
The vision about Jerusalem that God gave to Zechariah
2 Then I looked up and I saw a man in front of me. He had a line in his hand. The line was to measure something. 2 I asked the man, ‘Where are you going?’ He said to me, ‘I am going to measure Jerusalem. I want to see how wide and how long it is.’ 3 The angel that talked with me went away. Another angel came to meet him. 4 The second angel said to the first angel, ‘Run to that young man with the line in his hand. Say that Jerusalem will be a city without walls. This is because of the many people and many animals that will live in it. 5 The Lord himself promises that he will be like a wall of fire round Jerusalem. He will shine as a beautiful light inside the city.’
The Lord will be among his people
6 ‘Come! Come! Run away from the country in the north,’ says the Lord. ‘As the four winds blow in different directions, I sent you to many far countries.
7 Come, my people. Run away from Babylon and return to Jerusalem.’ 8 Return because the Lord says, ‘Anyone that attacks you is attacking the Lord's people. He is attacking the people that the Lord loves.’ So the Lord Almighty sent me, Zechariah, with this message about the countries that have robbed his people. 9 ‘The Lord himself will fight against your enemies and their own slaves will rob them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me, Zechariah, to you.’
10 ‘Sing and be happy, you people in Jerusalem. This is because I will come. And I will live among you,’ says the Lord. 11 ‘On that day, the people from many countries will come to me, the Lord, and they will become my people. I will live among you. You will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me. 12 The Lord will choose Judah for himself again. Jerusalem will be the city that he loves most of all cities. 13 Be quiet, all people, because the Lord has left his home in heaven to come among you.’
Clean clothes for Joshua the most important priest
3 Then the angel of the Lord appeared to me, Zechariah, and he showed me Joshua, the most important priest. Joshua was standing in front of the angel of the Lord. Satan stood on the right side of Joshua. He was ready to say that Joshua had done bad things. 2 The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord says that you are wrong. The Lord has chosen Jerusalem. And he says that you are wrong. Joshua is certainly like a burning stick that someone pulls quickly out of the fire.’
3 Joshua was wearing very dirty clothes and he stood in front of the angel. 4 The angel said to the other angels that stood in front of him, ‘Remove his very dirty clothes.’ Then the first angel said to Joshua, ‘See, I have taken away your sin. I will put the clothes on you that a priest should wear.’
5 Then Zechariah said, ‘Put a clean hat on his head.’ So they put a clean hat on his head and they dressed him in clean clothes. The angel of the Lord stood near to them.[c]
6 The angel of the Lord spoke to Joshua with these serious words. 7 ‘These are the words of the Lord Almighty. Listen to them and obey them. “You will rule in my house. You will rule inside the walls of my house. I will give you a place among the angels that are standing here.
8 Listen, Joshua, most important priest of the Lord. Listen you priests that sit with Joshua. You are like a sign. People can look at you. And they can know that good things will happen in future years. See! I will bring to you my servant who is called The Branch.[d] 9 See the stone that I have put in front of Joshua! It is a stone with seven sides and I will cut words in the stone”, says the Lord Almighty. “I will remove the sin of this country's people in one day.” 10 “On that day”, says the Lord Almighty, “each of you will ask your friends to come. You will ask them to come and to sit under your own vines and fig trees.” ’[e]
The burning lights and the olive trees
4 The angel that talked with me before woke me. I, Zechariah, was like a man who wakes out of his sleep. 2 The angel said to me, ‘What do you see?’ I said, ‘I see a lampstand that is made from gold. It has seven lamps and a bowl on top which contains oil. And it has seven branches that take the oil to each lamp. 3 And two olive trees are standing by the lampstand. One tree is on the right and one tree is on the left.’
4 I, Zechariah, said to the angel that talked with me, ‘What does this light mean, my lord?’
5 He said, ‘Do you not know what these are?’
I said, ‘No, my lord.’
6 Then the angel said to me, ‘The Lord said this to Zerubbabel: “You will need my Spirit. You yourself are too weak.[f] And you do not have enough power.” This is what the Lord Almighty says: 7 “Big mountain, you are no problem. You will become flat ground in front of Zerubbabel. Then he will bring out the last and biggest stone of my house. The people will shout, ‘God bless it! God bless it!’ ” ’
8 Then the Lord's message came to me, Zechariah. He said, 9 ‘Zerubbabel has put down the first stone of my house. He will also finish it.’[g] Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
10 Everyone should know that the day of small things is important.
Men will see Zerubbabel. Then they will sing and they will be happy. They will see him with a line in his hand to measure the walls.
The Lord sees everything in the whole earth. (The seven lights are the seven eyes of the Lord.)
11 Then I said to the angel, ‘What are these two olive trees that stand on the right and on the left of the lampstand?’
12 A second time I spoke to the angel, ‘What are these two branches of the olive trees? They are next to the gold pipes and oil comes from those pipes.’
13 The angel replied, ‘Do you not know what these olive trees mean?’
‘No, my lord,’ I said.
14 So the angel said, ‘These are the two men that the Lord of all the earth has chosen to be his servants.’[h]
Words for everyone to read
5 Again, I looked and I saw a large paper. It was moving through the air. There were many words on the paper.
2 The angel said to me, ‘What do you see?’ And I answered, ‘I see a paper that is flying through the air. It is 30 feet long and 15 feet wide.’
3 Then the angel said to me, ‘The words on the paper tell about bad events for the whole earth. This will be in future years. On one side of the paper, it says that a man must not rob anyone. If he does, people will send him away from his own country. On the other side of the paper, it says that a man must not speak false words. If he does, people will send him away from his own country. 4 The Lord Almighty says, “I will cause bad things to happen in the house of the man that robs anyone. I will cause bad things to happen in the house of the man that speaks false words. It is as if the words on the paper will destroy the houses of those bad people.” ’
The woman in the basket
5 Then the angel that talked to me came near to me. He said, ‘Look. And see the thing that has just appeared.’
6 I said, ‘What is it?’
He said, ‘It is a basket that people measure with.’ Then he said, ‘It is the sin of all the people in this country.’
7 He lifted the heavy metal lid and there was a woman. She was sitting in the basket!
8 The angel said, ‘This is sin.’ He pushed her into the basket again and he put the heavy metal lid on top of the basket.
9 Then I looked up and I saw two women. They flew towards me with strong wings. The wind carried them as the wind carries large birds. They lifted the basket between the earth and the sky.
10 Then I said to the angel that talked with me, ‘Where will these women take the basket?’
11 The angel said to me, ‘They will take the basket to the country called Babylon. They will build a house for it there. When the house is ready, they will put the basket inside the house. They will put it where people can see it.’
Four chariots
6 Again I looked up and I saw four chariots! They came out from between two mountains and the mountains were mountains of shining metal! 2 The first chariot had red horses and the second chariot had black horses. 3 The third chariot had white horses and the fourth chariot had grey horses. All the horses were strong. 4 Then I spoke to the angel that talked to me. I asked him, ‘What are these chariots, my lord?’
5 The angel answered me, ‘These are the four spirits of heaven. They have come from the Lord of the whole world. 6 The chariot with the black horses goes towards the north country. The chariot with the white horses goes after them. The chariot with the grey horses goes towards the south country.’
7 When the strong horses came out, they were in a hurry to leave. The angel said, ‘Go through all the earth.’ So the horses went through all the earth.
8 Then the Lord told me, ‘The chariot that goes to the north country has caused my Spirit to rest in the north country. I am now no longer angry about the north country.’
A crown for Joshua
9 The Lord spoke to me.
10 ‘Three men have arrived from Babylon,’ he said. ‘Their names are Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah. Take the gold that they have brought with them. On the same day, take the gold to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah.
11 Take the gold and other valuable metal and make a crown. Put it on the head of Joshua the most important priest. He is the son of Jehozadak. 12 Say to Joshua, “The Lord Almighty says, ‘I have chosen a man. His name is the Branch. He will be a great man and he will build the house of the Lord.
13 It is he who will build the house of the Lord. He will sit on his special high seat and he will rule all the people. He will be a priest on the seat of a king. This one man will be priest and king.’ ” 14 They will put the crown in the house of the Lord. This is to remember Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen the son of Zephaniah. This is because they brought the gold from Babylon.
15 People will come a long way and they will help to build the house of the Lord. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. All this will happen if you completely obey the Lord your God.’
God wants people to be fair and kind
7 The Lord spoke to Zechariah when Darius had been king for four years. It was the fourth day of the ninth month. The name of the month was Kislev. 2 Then the people in Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech and their men to Jerusalem. They came to ask the Lord to help them. 3 They came to the house of the Lord Almighty to speak to the priests and to the prophets. They asked, ‘Should we cry and not eat our food in the fifth month? We have done this for many years.’[i]
4 The Lord Almighty spoke to me. 5 He said, ‘Say this to all the people in this country and to the priests: “You lived in Babylon for many years. You ate no food and you were sad in the fifth month and in the seventh month. But you did not do this for me. 6 You ate and you drank. But you ate and you drank for yourselves. 7 These are the words that I, the Lord, spoke by my prophets in past years. At that time, the people in Jerusalem lived without trouble. Many rich people lived in Jerusalem. People in the Negev region in the south and in the low hills in the west also lived safely.” ’
8 The Lord spoke again to Zechariah. He said, 9 ‘The Lord Almighty has said, “Be sure that you are fair to all people. Be kind to each other. 10 Do not cheat widows or children who have no family. Do not cheat foreigners or poor people. Do not think secretly of ways to hurt each other.”
11 But the people would not listen and they turned away. They put their hands over their ears, because they did not want to hear. 12 They decided that they would not listen to God's rules or to the messages from the prophets. But the Lord Almighty had sent those messages by His Spirit. So I, the Lord Almighty, was very angry.
13 When I spoke to them, they did not listen. So when they prayed to me, I did not listen to them, says the Lord Almighty. 14 As a storm takes things away, I took my people away to strange countries. The country that they left became an empty country. Nobody lived in it. That is how they made the good country an empty country.’
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