Old/New Testament
The Sixth Vision: A Flying Scroll
5 Again I lifted up my eyes and looked. I saw a flying scroll!
2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I said, “I see a flying scroll! It is thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”[a]
3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of the whole earth: On the basis of the curse, everyone who steals will be expelled in one direction, and everyone who swears falsely will be expelled in the other direction.[b] 4 I will send it out, declares the Lord of Armies, and it will go to the house of the thief and to the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his house and consume it, both wood and stone.”
The Seventh Vision: A Woman in a Basket
5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and said to me, “Lift up your eyes, now, and see what is going out.”
6 So I asked, “What is it?”
He replied, “This is the basket[c] that is going out.”
He also said, “This is their guilt[d] in all the earth.”
7 As I watched, the lead cover was lifted, and I saw that there was a woman sitting inside the basket.
8 He said, “This is Wickedness.” Then he pushed her down inside the basket, and he pushed the lead weight onto its opening.
9 Then I lifted up my eyes and looked again. There were two women coming toward me! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork. They lifted up the basket between the earth and the heavens.
10 So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”
11 He told me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar.[e] When it is ready, it will be set there on its foundation.”
The Eighth Vision: Four Chariots
6 Then I turned and lifted up my eyes and looked again. There were four chariots coming out from between two mountains. The mountains were made of bronze. 2 The first chariot had red horses. The second chariot had black horses. 3 The third chariot had white horses. The fourth chariot had dappled horses. All of them were powerful. 4 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits[f] of the heavens, going forth from their stations to present themselves to the Lord of all the earth. 6 The driver with the black horses is going toward the land of the north, and the one with the white horses is following after them, and the one with the dappled horses is going toward the land of the south.”
7 Now the powerful horses came out, and they were eager to range throughout the earth. He said, “Go! Range throughout the earth.” So they ranged throughout the earth.
8 Then he called out to me and told me, “Look! Those who are going out toward the land of the north have caused my Spirit to rest in the land of the north.”
The Crowning of Joshua
9 The word of the Lord came to me:
10 Take an offering from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have come from Babylon—and on that very day go into the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and place it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.
12 Tell him that this is what the Lord of Armies says:
There is a man whose name is the Branch, because he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the Lord. 13 He is the one who will build the temple of the Lord. He will be clothed with majesty, and he will sit and rule on his throne. He will be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful relations between the two offices.[g]
14 The crown will be kept in the temple as a memorial[h] for Helem[i] and Tobijah and Jedaiah and Hen,[j] son of Zephaniah.
15 Those who are far away will come and build the temple of the Lord, and you will know that the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen if you carefully obey the voice of the Lord your God.
The Reason the Land Became Desolate
7 In the fourth year of King Darius,[k] the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Kislev.[l]
2 The people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem Melek with their men to plead for the favor of the Lord 3 by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Armies and the prophets, “Should I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done these many years?”
4 Then the word of the Lord of Armies came to me:
5 Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests.
When you fasted and lamented during the fifth and seventh months for these seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you eat and drink, is it not for yourselves that you eat and drink? 7 Weren’t these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and when the Negev and the Shephelah[m] were inhabited?
8 Then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah:
9 This is what the Lord of Armies says. Execute true justice. Each man is to show kindness and compassion to his brother. 10 Do not oppress the widow, the fatherless child, the foreigner living among you, or the poor. Make sure that none of you plan evil in your heart against your brother.
11 But they refused to pay attention. They turned a stubborn shoulder and covered their ears so that they would not hear. 12 They made their hearts like the hardest rock[n] so that they would not hear the law and the words that the Lord of Armies sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. As a result, the fierce anger from the Lord of Armies was great.
13 When I called, they would not listen. So when they called, I would not listen, says the Lord of Armies. 14 I scattered them with a windstorm, among all the nations which they did not know. So the land was left desolate behind them. No one traveled back and forth through it. They made the pleasant land desolate.
The Lord Will Save His People
8 The word of the Lord of Armies came:
2 This is what the Lord of Armies says. I am zealous for Zion with great zeal, and with great wrath I am zealous for her.
3 This is what the Lord says. I will certainly return to Zion, and I will dwell in the middle of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of Armies will be called the holy mountain.
4 This is what the Lord of Armies says. Old men and old women will again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, all of them with canes[o] in their hand due to old age. 5 Then the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets.
6 This is what the Lord of Armies says. Although in those days this may seem unattainable to the surviving remnant of this people, will it also seem unattainable to me? declares the Lord of Armies.
7 This is what the Lord of Armies says. Look, I will save my people from the land where the sun rises and from the land where the sun sets, 8 and I will bring them to settle in the midst of Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.
9 This is what the Lord of Armies says. Let your hands be strong so that the temple may be built—you who in these days are listening to these words from the mouths of the prophets, who were present on the day when the foundation of the house of the Lord of Armies was laid. 10 For before those days, there was no one who could pay for workmen or for animals. There was no peace from the adversary for anyone who went out or came in, because I had set every man against his neighbor. 11 But now I will not treat the surviving remnant of this people as in earlier days, declares the Lord of Armies.
12 Sowing will take place in peace. The vine will yield its fruit. The earth will yield its produce. The sky will provide its dew. I will give all these things as a possession to the surviving remnant of this people. 13 Just as you once were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so now I will save you. You will be a blessing. Do not be afraid. Let your hands be strong.
14 For this is what the Lord of Armies[p] says. Just as I planned to bring disaster upon you when your fathers made me angry, says the Lord of Armies, so that I did not relent, 15 so in these days I plan to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah once again. Do not be afraid.
16 These are the things that you are to do: Speak the truth to one another. Render judgments that uphold truth, justice, and peace in your gates. 17 Do not plot evil in your hearts against each other. Do not love false oaths. Indeed I hate all these things, declares the Lord.
18 The word of the Lord of Armies came to me:
19 This is what the Lord of Armies says. The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will become times of rejoicing, joy, and gladness for the house of Judah. Therefore, all of you are to love truth and peace.
20 This is what the Lord of Armies says. People will still come as the inhabitants of many cities. 21 Then the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, “Let us go immediately to plead for the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of Armies. I myself will go.” 22 Then many peoples and mighty nations will come to seek the Lord of Armies in Jerusalem and to plead for the favor of the Lord.
23 This is what the Lord of Armies says. In those days, ten men from among the speakers of every language of the nations will take firm hold of the hem of a Jew’s garment and say, “Let us go along with you, because we have heard that God is with you.”
The Church’s Victory
19 After these things I heard what seemed to be the loud sound of an immense crowd in heaven, saying:
Alleluia!
Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,
2 for his judgments are true and just,
because he has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality,
and he has avenged his servants’ blood that was shed by her hand.
3 A second time they said, “Alleluia! Her smoke goes up forever and ever.”
4 Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures bowed down and worshipped God, who sits on the throne, saying, “Amen! Alleluia!”
5 And from the throne came a voice that said, “Praise our God, all you his servants and you who fear him, small and great.”
The Wedding Supper of the Lamb
6 And I heard what seemed to be the roar of a large crowd or the roar of many waters or the sound of loud rumblings of thunder, saying:
Alleluia!
For the Lord our[a] God, the Almighty, reigns.
7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory,
because the wedding of the Lamb has come.
His bride has made herself ready,
8 and she was given bright, clean, fine linen to wear.
(In fact, the fine linen is the “not guilty” verdicts pronounced on the saints.)
9 The angel said to me, “Write: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb.” He also said to me, “These are the true words of God.” 10 And I bowed down at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers, who have the testimony about Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
The Rider on the White Horse
11 I saw heaven standing open, and there was a white horse! Its rider is called Faithful and True, and he judges and makes war in righteousness. 12 His eyes are like blazing flames, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him, which no one knows except he himself. 13 He is also clothed in a garment that had been dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. 14 The armies in heaven, which were clothed with white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 15 Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will shepherd them with an iron staff. He himself is going to trample the winepress of the fierce anger of the Almighty God. 16 On his garment and on his thigh this name is written: King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
17 I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out with a loud voice to all the birds that were flying in the middle of the sky. He said:
Come, gather together for God’s great supper,
18 so that you can eat the flesh of kings,
and the flesh of military leaders,
and the flesh of mighty men,
and the flesh of horses and of their riders,
and the flesh of all people, both free and slave, and small and great.
19 Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. 20 The beast was captured along with the false prophet who performed miracles on his behalf, with which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and had worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire, which burns with sulfur. 21 The rest were killed with the sword that comes out of the mouth of the rider on the horse. And all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.