The Daily Audio Bible
Today's audio is from the VOICE. Switch to the VOICE to read along with the audio.
A Call to Repent
1 In the eighth month of the second year[a] of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.
2 The Lord was very angry with your forefathers.[b] 3 Therefore, now you are to tell this people that this is what the Lord of Armies says to them.
Return to me, declares the Lord of Armies, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Armies. 4 Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed, “This is what the Lord of Armies says. Return, return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.”
But our forefathers did not listen, nor did they pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your forefathers—where are they now? And those prophets—did they go on living indefinitely? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded to my servants the prophets, caught up with our forefathers, didn’t they?
Then they[c] returned[d] and said, “Because of our ways and our deeds, the Lord of Armies has done to us just as he planned to do to us.”
Eight Night Visions
The First Vision: The Man Among the Myrtle Trees
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, that is, the month of Shebat,[e] in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.
8 I saw a vision at night. In it I saw a man seated on a red horse, standing among myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, sorrel,[f] and white horses.
9 So I asked, “My lord, what are these?”
The angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”
10 Then the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, “These are the ones the Lord sent to range throughout the earth.”
11 They reported to the angel[g] of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have ranged throughout the earth. Look! All the earth is resting and quiet.”
12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord of Armies, how long will you withhold compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with whom you were indignant these seventy years?”
13 The Lord responded with kind and compassionate words to the angel who was speaking with me.
14 So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim this. This is what the Lord of Armies says.”
I am very zealous[h] for Jerusalem and for Zion, 15 and I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are complacent. When I was angry only a little,[i] they added to the evil.
16 Therefore, this is what the Lord says. I have turned to Jerusalem with compassionate feelings. My house will be built in Jerusalem, declares the Lord of Armies, and the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.
17 Proclaim also this: This is what the Lord of Armies says. Once again my towns will overflow with prosperity. Once again the Lord will console Zion. Once again he will choose Jerusalem.
The Second Vision: Four Horns and Four Craftsmen
18 Then I looked up, and I saw that there were four horns.[j] 19 I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?”
He answered me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.[k]
21 I asked, “What are these men coming to do?”
He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Judah to such an extent that no one could raise his head, but these craftsmen are coming to terrify them and to knock down the horns of those nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter her people.”
The Dragon and the Child
12 A great sign appeared in the sky: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head. 2 She was pregnant, and she cried out in pain and agony as she gave birth.
3 Another sign also appeared in the sky: There was a huge red dragon that had seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads. 4 His tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman, who was about to give birth, so that he could devour the child as soon as it was born.
5 She gave birth to a son, a male child, who will shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. Her child was snatched up to God and to his throne. 6 Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God in order that she might be fed there for 1,260 days.
War in Heaven
7 There was also a war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought with the dragon. The dragon fought back along with his angels, 8 but he was not strong enough. There was no longer a place for them[a] in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down—the ancient serpent, the one called the Devil and Satan, the one who leads the whole inhabited earth astray—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
10 I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying:
Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Christ,[b]
because the accuser of our brothers[c] has been thrown down,
the one who accuses them before our God day and night.
11 They conquered him
because of the blood of the Lamb and
because of the word of their testimony.
They did not love their lives in the face of death.
12 For this reason, rejoice, you heavens and those who dwell in them.
Woe to the earth and the sea,
for the Devil has gone down to you.
He is full of rage, because he knows that his time is short.
The Dragon Persecutes the Woman
13 When the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman, who had given birth to the male child. 14 Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she might fly to her place in the wilderness, where she is to be fed for a time, and times, and half a time, away from the presence of the serpent. 15 And the serpent spewed water out of his mouth, like a river, after the woman, in order to carry her away in the flowing water. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river, which the dragon had spewed out of its mouth.
17 The dragon was angry about what had happened to the woman, and he went away to make war against the rest of her children—those who keep the commandments of God and who hold on to the testimony about Jesus.
18 And he[d] stood on the shore of the sea.
Psalm 140
Rescue Me From Evil Men
Heading
For the choir director. A psalm by David.
Plea for Deliverance
1 Keep me safe, Lord, from the evil man.
Protect me from the violent man,
2 who plans evil in his heart.
Every day they gather for battle.
3 They sharpen their tongues like a snake. Interlude
The poison of vipers is under their lips.
4 Keep me safe, Lord, from the hands of the wicked.
Protect me from the violent man, who plans to trip my feet.
5 The proud have hidden a snare for me, and ropes.[a]
They have spread out a net along my route. Interlude
They have set traps for me.
Confidence
6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”
Hear, O Lord, the sound of my cry for mercy.
7 O Lord, my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
you cover my head on the day for weapons.
8 Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked.
Do not let their scheme succeed when they rise up.[b] Interlude
Plea for Justice
9 May the trouble caused by their lips
fall on the heads of those who surround me.
10 Let burning coals fall on them.
Cause them to fall into the fire,
or into pits from which they will never rise.
11 Do not let the slanderer[c] be established in the land.
As for the man of violence—
may evil hunt him and beat him down.
Confidence
12 I know that the Lord will provide justice for the oppressed,
judgment for the poor.
13 Surely the righteous will give thanks to your name.
The upright will live in your presence.
17 An eye that mocks its father
and despises the obedience due its mother—
ravens of the valley will peck it out,
and young vultures will eat it.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.