Old/New Testament
The Lord Wants His People to Return
1 Zechariah son of Berekiah received a message from the Lord. This was in the eighth month of the second year that Darius[a] was king in Persia. (Zechariah was the son of Berekiah, who was the son of Iddo the prophet.) This is that message:
2 The Lord became very angry with your ancestors. 3 So you must tell the people what the Lord All-Powerful says, “Come back to me, says the Lord All-Powerful, and I will come back to you.” This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
4 “Don’t be like your ancestors. In the past the prophets spoke to them and said, ‘The Lord All-Powerful wants you to change your evil way of living. Stop doing evil things!’ But your ancestors did not listen to me.” This is what the Lord said.
5 “Your ancestors are gone, and those prophets did not live forever. 6 The prophets were my servants. I used them to tell your ancestors about my laws and teachings. Your ancestors finally learned their lesson and said, ‘The Lord All-Powerful did what he said he would do. He punished us for the way we lived and for all the evil things we did.’ So they came back to God.”
The Four Horses
7 On the 24th day of the eleventh month (Shebat) of the second year that Darius was king of Persia, Zechariah received another message from the Lord. (This was Zechariah son of Berekiah, son of Iddo.) This is the message:
8 At night I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among some myrtle bushes in the valley. Behind him, there were red, brown, and white horses. 9 I said, “Sir, what are these horses for?”
Then the angel speaking to me said, “I will show you what these horses are for.”
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle bushes said, “The Lord sent these horses to go here and there on earth.”
11 Then the horses spoke to the Lord’s angel standing among the myrtle bushes and said, “We have walked here and there on the earth, and everything is calm and quiet.”
12 Then the Lord’s angel said, “Lord All-Powerful, how long before you comfort Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? You have shown your anger at these cities for 70 years now.”
13 Then the Lord answered the angel who was talking with me. He spoke good, comforting words.
14 Then the angel told me to tell the people this: The Lord All-Powerful says:
“I have a strong love for Jerusalem and Zion.
15 And I am very angry at the nations that feel so safe.
I was only a little angry,
and I used them to punish my people.
But they caused too much damage.”
16 So the Lord says, “I will come back to Jerusalem and comfort her.”
The Lord All-Powerful says, “Jerusalem will be rebuilt,
and my house will be built there.”
17 The angel also said, “The Lord All-Powerful says,
‘My towns will be rich again.
I will comfort Zion.
I will again choose Jerusalem to be my special city.’”
The Four Horns and Four Workers
18 Then I looked up and I saw four horns. 19 So I asked the angel who was talking with me, “What do these horns mean?”
He said, “These are the horns that forced the people of Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem to go to foreign countries.”
20 The Lord showed me four workers. 21 I asked him, “What are these four workers coming to do?”
He said, “The horns represent the nations that attacked the people of Judah and forced them to go to foreign countries. The horns ‘threw’ the people of Judah to the foreign countries. The horns didn’t show mercy to anyone. But these four workers have come to frighten the horns and throw them away.”
Measuring Jerusalem
2 Then I looked up and saw a man holding a rope for measuring things. 2 I asked him, “Where are you going?”
He said to me, “I am going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and how long it is.”
3 Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel went out to talk to him. 4 He said to him, “Run and tell that young man this:
‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls,
because there will be too many people and animals living there.’
5 The Lord says,
‘I will be a wall of fire around her, to protect her,
and to bring glory to that city, I will live there.’”
God Calls His People Home
The Lord says,
6 “Hurry! Leave the land in the North in a hurry.
Yes, it is true that I scattered your people in every direction.
7 You people from Zion now live in Babylon.
Escape! Run away from that city!”
8 The Lord sent me to the nations that took away your wealth.
He sent me to bring you honor.
And this is what the Lord All-Powerful said:
“If anyone even touches you,
it is as if they did it to the pupil of my eye.
9 Watch and see how I will punish them:
Their own slaves will become their masters and take all their wealth.”
Then you will know it was the Lord All-Powerful
who sent me to tell you these things.
10 The Lord says,
“Zion, be happy, because I am coming,
and I will live in your city.
11 At that time people from many nations
will come to me.
They will become my people,
and I will live in your city.”
Then you will know it was the Lord All-Powerful
who sent me to tell you these things.
12 The Lord will again choose Jerusalem to be his special city.
Judah will be his share of the holy land.
13 Everyone, be quiet!
The Lord is coming out of his holy house.
The High Priest
3 The angel showed me Joshua the high priest, standing in front of the angel of the Lord and Satan was standing by Joshua’s right side. Satan was there to accuse Joshua of doing wrong. 2 Then the angel of the Lord said, “The Lord says that you are wrong, and he will continue to correct you! The Lord has chosen Jerusalem to be his special city. He saved that city—it was like a burning stick pulled from the fire.”
3 Joshua was wearing a dirty robe as he stood in front of the angel. 4 Then the angel said to the other angels standing near him, “Take those dirty clothes off Joshua.” Then the angel spoke to Joshua. He said, “Now, I have taken away your guilt, and I am giving you a new change of clothes.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put the clean turban on him and also put clean clothes on him while the Lord’s angel stood there. 6 Then the Lord’s angel said this to Joshua:
7 This is what the Lord All-Powerful said:
“Live the way I tell you,
and do everything I say.
And you will be in charge of my Temple.
You will take care of its courtyard.
You will be free to go anywhere in my Temple,
just as these angels standing here.
8 Listen, Joshua, you who are the high priest,
and listen, you fellow priests seated before him.
You are all examples to show what will happen when I bring my special servant.
He is called, the Branch.
9 Look, I put a special stone in front of Joshua.
There are seven sides[b] on that stone.
I will carve a special message on it.
This will show that in one day, I will remove the guilt from this land.”
10 The Lord All-Powerful says,
“At that time people will sit and talk
with their friends and neighbors.
They will invite each other to sit
under the fig trees and grapevines.”
The Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees
4 Then the angel who was talking to me returned and woke me up. I was like a person waking up from sleep. 2 Then the angel asked me, “What do you see?”
I said, “I see a solid gold lampstand. There are seven lamps[c] on the lampstand, and there is a bowl on top of it. There are seven tubes coming from the bowl. One tube goes to each lamp. The tubes bring the oil in the bowl to each of the lamps. 3 There are two olive trees by the bowl, one on the right side and one on the left side. These trees produce the oil for the lamps.” 4 Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Sir, what do these things mean?”
5 The angel speaking with me said, “Don’t you know what these things are?”
“No sir,” I said.
6 He said, “This is the message from the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Your help will not come from your own strength and power. No, your help will come from my Spirit.’ This is what the Lord All-Powerful says. 7 That tall mountain will be like a flat place for Zerubbabel. He will build the Temple, and when the most important stone is put in place, the people will shout, ‘Beautiful! Beautiful!’”
8 The Lord’s message to me also said, 9 “Zerubbabel will lay the foundations for my Temple, and he will finish building it. Then you will know that the Lord All-Powerful sent me to you people. 10 People will not be ashamed of the small beginnings, and they will be very happy when they see Zerubbabel with the plumb line,[d] measuring and checking the finished building. Now the seven sides[e] of the stone you saw represent the eyes of the Lord looking in every direction. They see everything on earth.”
11 Then I said to him, “I saw one olive tree on the right side of the lampstand and one on the left side. What do those two olive trees mean?” 12 I also said to him, “I saw two olive branches by the gold tubes with gold colored oil flowing from them. What do these things mean?”
13 Then the angel said to me, “Don’t you know what these things mean?”
I said, “No, sir.”
14 So he said, “They represent the two men chosen[f] to serve the Lord of the whole world.”
Babylon Is Destroyed
18 Then I saw another angel coming down from heaven. This angel had great power. The angel’s glory made the earth bright. 2 The angel shouted with a powerful voice,
“She is destroyed!
The great city of Babylon is destroyed!
She has become a home for demons.
That city has become a place for every unclean spirit to live.
She is a city filled with all kinds of unclean birds.
She is a place where every unclean and hated animal lives.
3 All the peoples of the earth have drunk the wine
of her sexual sin and of God’s anger.
The rulers of the earth sinned sexually with her,
and the merchants of the world grew rich from the great wealth of her luxury.”
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say,
“Come out of that city, my people,
so that you will not share in her sins.
Then you will not suffer any of the terrible punishment she will get.
5 That city’s sins are piled up as high as heaven.
God has not forgotten the wrongs she has done.
6 Give that city the same as she gave to others.
Pay her back twice as much as she did.
Prepare wine for her that is twice as strong
as the wine she prepared for others.
7 She gave herself much glory and rich living.
Give her that much suffering and sadness.
She says to herself, ‘I am a queen sitting on my throne.
I am not a widow;
I will never be sad.’
8 So in one day she will suffer
great hunger, mourning, and death.
She will be destroyed by fire,
because the Lord God who judges her is powerful.
9 “The rulers of the earth who sinned sexually with her and shared her wealth will see the smoke from her burning. Then they will cry and be sad because of her death. 10 The rulers will be afraid of her suffering and stand far away. They will say,
‘Terrible! How terrible, O great city,
O powerful city of Babylon!
Your punishment came in one hour!’
11 “And the merchants of the earth will cry and be sad for her. They will be sad because now there is no one to buy the things they sell— 12 gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen cloth, purple cloth, silk, and scarlet cloth, all kinds of citron wood, and all kinds of things made from ivory, expensive wood, bronze, iron, and marble. 13 They also sell cinnamon, spice, incense, frankincense, myrrh, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle, sheep, horses, carriages, and slaves—yes, even human lives. The merchants will cry and say,
14 ‘O Babylon, the good things you wanted have left you.
All your rich and fancy things have disappeared.
You will never have them again.’
15 “The merchants will be afraid of her suffering and will stand far away from her. They are the ones who became rich from selling those things to her. They will cry and be sad. 16 They will say,
‘Terrible! How terrible for the great city!
She was dressed in fine linen;
she wore purple and scarlet cloth.
She was shining with gold, jewels, and pearls!
17 All these riches have been destroyed in one hour!’
“Every sea captain, all those who travel on ships, the sailors, and all those who earn money from the sea stood far away from Babylon. 18 They saw the smoke from her burning. They cried out, ‘There was never a city like this great city!’ 19 They threw dust on their heads and cried loudly to show the deep sorrow they felt. They said,
‘Terrible! How terrible for the great city!
All those who had ships on the sea became rich because of her wealth!
But she has been destroyed in one hour!
20 Be happy because of this, O heaven!
Be happy, God’s holy people and apostles and prophets!
God has punished her because of what she did to you.’”
21 Then a powerful angel picked up a large rock. This rock was as big as a large millstone. The angel threw the rock into the sea and said,
“That is how the great city of Babylon will be thrown down.
It will never be found again.
22 O Babylon, the music of people playing harps and other instruments, flutes and trumpets
will never be heard in you again.
No worker doing any job
will ever be found in you again.
The sound of a millstone
will never be heard in you again.
23 The light of a lamp
will never shine in you again.
The voices of a bridegroom and bride
will never be heard in you again.
Your merchants were the world’s great people.
All the nations were tricked by your magic.
24 You are guilty of the death of the prophets, of God’s holy people,
and of all those who have been killed on earth.”
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International