Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

⁷ On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Sh’vat, in the second year of Daryavesh, this message from Adonai came to Z’kharyah the son of Berekhyah, the son of ‘Iddo, the prophet: ⁸ It was night, and I saw there before me a man riding on a russet-colored horse. He stood among the myrtle bushes in the valley; and behind him were other horses, russet, chestnut-colored and white. ⁹ I asked, “What are these, my Lord?” The angel speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” ¹⁰ The man standing among the myrtles said, “These are those whom Adonai has sent to wander throughout the earth.” ¹¹ Then they themselves answered the angel of Adonai standing among the myrtles, “We have been wandering throughout the earth, and the whole world is quiet and at peace.” ¹² The angel of Adonai said, “Adonai-Tzva’ot, how long will you keep withholding mercy from Yerushalayim and the cities of Y’hudah? You’ve been angry with them for the past seventy years!” ¹³ Adonai replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me. ¹⁴ The angel speaking with me then said to me, “Here is what Adonai-Tzva’ot says: ‘I am extremely jealous on behalf of Yerushalayim and Tziyon; ¹⁵ and [to the same degree] I am extremely angry with the nations that are so self-satisfied; because I was only a little angry [at Yerushalayim and Tziyon], but they made the suffering worse.’ ¹⁶ Therefore Adonai says, ‘I will return to Yerushalayim with merciful deeds. My house will be rebuilt there,’ says Adonai-Tzva’ot; ‘yes, a measuring line will be stretched out over Yerushalayim.’ ¹⁷ In addition, proclaim that Adonai-Tzva’ot says, ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity.’ Adonai will again comfort Tziyon, and he will again make Yerushalayim the city of his choice.”

2 Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, passing judgment; for when you judge someone else, you are passing judgment against yourself; since you who are judging do the same things he does. ² We know that God’s judgment lands impartially on those who do such things; ³ do you think that you, a mere man passing judgment on others who do such things, yet doing them yourself, will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or perhaps you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience; because you don’t realize that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to turn from your sins. ⁵ But by your stubbornness, by your unrepentant heart, you are storing up anger for yourself on the Day of Anger, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed; ⁶ for he will pay back each one according to his deeds.^{[a] 7} To those who seek glory, honor and immortality by perseverance in doing good, he will pay back eternal life. ⁸ But to those who are self-seeking, who disobey the truth and obey evil, he will pay back wrath and anger.

⁹ Yes, he will pay back misery and anguish to every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile; ¹⁰ but glory and honor and shalom to everyone who keeps doing what is good, to the Jew first, then to the Gentile. ¹¹ For God does not show favoritism.