Zacharie 1

A call to return to the LORD

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius’s reign, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:^{a 2}The LORD was very angry with your ancestors. ³So tell them, “The LORD of Armies says this: Return to me, declares the LORD of Armies, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Armies.” ⁴Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the earlier prophets called out, “The LORD of Armies says this: Turn back from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD. ⁵Your ancestors, where are they now? And the prophets, do they live forever? ⁶But my words and my decrees, the ones I commanded my servants the prophets to speak, did they not catch up with your ancestors? Then they repented and said, “The LORD of Armies has dealt with us as our ways and our deeds deserved, just as he planned to do.”

The man among the myrtle trees

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of Shebat, the eleventh month, in the second year of Darius’s reign, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:^{b 8}I saw a vision in the night: there was a man mounted on a red horse. He stood among the myrtle trees in the ravine, and behind him were red, sorrel and white horses.^{c 9}I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who talked with me answered, “I will show you what they are.” ¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “These are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.” ¹¹They reported to the angel of the LORD, who stood among the myrtle trees: “We have patrolled the whole earth, and all of it is still and at rest.” ¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, “LORD of Armies, how long will you hold back your compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?”^{d 13}And the LORD answered the angel who talked with me with good and comforting words. ¹⁴Then the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim this: ‘The LORD of Armies says this: I am deeply jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion.^{e 15}And I am very angry with the nations that feel so secure. I was only a little angry with my people, but they made the disaster worse. ¹⁶Therefore the LORD says this: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be rebuilt in it, declares the LORD of Armies, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’ ¹⁷Proclaim this as well: ‘The LORD of Armies says this: My cities will once again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’”