1In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was emperor of Persia, the LORD gave this message to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo.H8066H2320H8147H8141H1867H1697H3068H2148H1121H1296H1121H5714H5030H5592The LORD Almighty told Zechariah to say to the people, "I, the LORD, was very angry with your ancestors,H3068H7110H7107H13but now I say to you, 'Return to me, and I will return to you.H559H559H3068H6635H7725H5002H3068H6635H7725H559H3068H66354Do not be like your ancestors. Long ago the prophets gave them my message, telling them not to live evil, sinful lives any longer. But they would not listen to me or obey me.H1H7223H5030H7121H559H559H3068H6635H7725H7451H1870H7451H4611H8085H7181H5002H30685Your ancestors and those prophets are no longer alive.H1H5030H2421H57696Through my servants the prophets I gave your ancestors commands and warnings, but they disregarded them and suffered the consequences. Then they repented and acknowledged that I, the LORD Almighty, had punished them as they deserved and as I had determined to do.' "H1697H2706H6680H5650H5030H5381H1H7725H559H3068H6635H2161H6213H1870H4611H6213
The Prophet’s Vision of the Horses
7In the second year that Darius was emperor, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat), the LORD gave me a message in a vision at night.H702H6242H3117H6249H6240H2320H2320H7627H8147H8141H1867H1697H3068H2148H1121H1296H1121H5714H5030H5598I saw someone riding a red horse. He had stopped among some myrtle trees in a valley, and behind him were other horses - red, dappled, and white.H7200H3915H376H7392H122H5483H5975H1918H4699H310H122H5483H8320H38369I asked him, "Sir, what do these horses mean?" He answered, "I will show you what they mean.H559H113H4397H1696H559H720010The LORD sent them to go and inspect the earth."H376H5975H1918H6030H559H3068H7971H1980H77611They reported to the angel: "We have been all over the world and have found that the whole world lies helpless and subdued."H6030H4397H3068H5975H1918H559H1980H776H776H3427H825212Then the angel said, "Almighty LORD, you have been angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years now. How much longer will it be before you show them mercy?"H4397H3068H6030H559H3068H6635H7355H3389H5892H3063H2194H7657H814113The LORD answered the angel with comforting words,H3068H6030H4397H1696H2896H1697H5150H169714and the angel told me to proclaim what the LORD Almighty had said: "I have a deep love and concern for Jerusalem, my holy city,H4397H1696H559H7121H559H559H3068H6635H7065H3389H6726H1419H706815and I am very angry with the nations that enjoy quiet and peace. For while I was holding back my anger against my people, those nations made the sufferings of my people worse.H1419H7110H7107H1471H7600H4592H7107H5826H745116So I have come back to Jerusalem to show mercy to the city. My Temple will be restored, and the city will be rebuilt."H559H3068H7725H3389H7356H1004H1129H5002H3068H6635H6957H6961H5186H338917The angel also told me to proclaim: "The LORD Almighty says that his cities will be prosperous again and that he will once again help Jerusalem and claim the city as his own."H7121H559H559H3068H6635H5892H2896H6327H3068H5162H6726H977H3389
The Vision of the Horns
18In another vision I saw four ox horns.H5375H5869H7200H702H716119I asked the angel that had been speaking to me, "What do these horns mean?" He answered, "They stand for the world powers that have scattered the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."H559H4397H1696H559H7161H2219H3063H3478H338920Then the LORD showed me four workers with hammers.H3068H7200H702H279621I asked, "What have they come to do?" He answered, "They have come to terrify and overthrow the nations that completely crushed the land of Judah and scattered its people."H559H935H6213H559H559H7161H2219H3063H6310H376H5375H7218H935H2729H3034H7161H1471H5375H7161H776H3063H2219