The Daily Audio Bible
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1 In the eighth month, during the second year of King Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo, saying:
A Call to Repentance
2 The Lord was very angry with your fathers, 3 so you will say to them, Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Return to Me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of Hosts. 4 Do not be like your fathers to whom the former prophets cried, “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Turn away from your evil ways and deeds!” But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, says the Lord. 5 So where are your fathers, and do the prophets live forever? 6 Surely My words and statutes that I commanded to My servants, the prophets, did they not persuade your fathers?
They turned back and said, “Whatever the Lord of Hosts planned to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.”
Vision of the Horsemen
7 On the twenty-fourth day, in the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, during the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berekiah, son of Iddo:
8 I saw during the night a man riding on a red horse. But he was standing among the myrtle trees that were in the ravine, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
9 And I said, “What are these, my lord?”
Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “I will show you what these are.”
10 Then the man who was standing among the myrtle trees responded and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent out to walk to and fro on the earth.”
11 They answered and said to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone to and fro on the earth, and all the earth is resting and peaceful.”
12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “How much longer, O Lord of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah with which You have been angry these seventy years?” 13 And the Lord answered the angel speaking to me with good and comforting words.
14 So the angel who spoke with me said, Cry out, saying: Thus says the Lord of Hosts: I have a great jealousy for Jerusalem and Zion. 15 And I have a great anger for those nations who are at ease, for while I was angry but a little, they helped to increase evil.
16 Therefore thus says the Lord: I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy, and My house will be built in it, says the Lord of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.
17 Cry out again, saying, Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Yet again My cities will overflow with goodness, and again the Lord will comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.
The Vision of the Horns and Craftsmen
18 And I then lifted up my eyes, and I saw four horns. 19 And I said to the angel speaking to me, “What are these?”
And he answered, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?”
And he said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah after which no one could raise his head; and these four craftsmen have come to terrify and throw down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
The Woman and the Dragon
12 A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was with child and cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3 Then another sign appeared in heaven: There was a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4 His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven, and threw them to the earth. The dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as He was born. 5 She gave birth to a male Child, “who was to rule all nations with an iron scepter.”[a] And her Child was caught up to God and to His throne. 6 The woman fled into the wilderness where she has a place prepared by God, that they may nourish her there for one thousand two hundred and sixty days.
7 Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought, 8 but they did not prevail, nor was there a place for them in heaven any longer. 9 The great dragon was cast out, that ancient serpent called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world. He was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him.
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying:
“Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of His Christ have come,
for the accuser of our brothers,
who accused them before our God day and night,
has been cast down.
11 They overcame him
by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
and they loved not their lives
unto the death.
12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens,
and you who dwell in them!
Woe unto the inhabitants of the earth and the sea!
For the devil has come down to you in great wrath,
because he knows that his time is short.”
13 When the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male Child. 14 The woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is to be nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the presence of the serpent. 15 Then the serpent spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood. 16 But the earth helped the woman. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the flood which the dragon spewed out of his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman, and he went to wage war with the remnant of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Psalm 140
For the Music Director. A Psalm of David.
1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men;
protect me from violent men,
2 who plan evil deeds in their heart
and continually gather together for conflicts.
3 They have tongues as sharp as a serpent;
adders’ poison is with their lips. Selah
4 Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
preserve me from the violent men
who have planned to overthrow me.
5 The proud have hid a snare for me,
and with cords they have spread a net;
they have set traps for me. Selah
6 I said to the Lord, “You are my God;
hear the voice of my supplications, O Lord.”
7 O God my Lord, the strength of my salvation,
You have covered my head in the day of battle.
8 Grant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
do not allow his evil plot,
lest he be raised up. Selah
9 As for the head of those who encompass me,
let the mischief of their own lips overwhelm them;
10 let burning coals fall upon them;
let them be cast into the fire,
into deep pits that they do not rise up again.
11 Let not an evil speaker be established in the land;
let evil hunt the violent man to overthrow him!
12 I know that the Lord will maintain the cause of the afflicted
and will give justice to the poor.
13 Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto Your name;
the upright shall dwell in Your presence.
17 The eye that mocks at his father,
and despises to obey his mother,
the ravens of the valley will pick it out,
and the young eagles will eat it.
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.