A Call to Return to the Lord

1 In the eighth month, ^ain the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^bZechariah, the son of ^cBerechiah, son of ^dIddo, saying, 2 ^e“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: ^fReturn to me, says the Lord of hosts, and ^gI will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 ^hDo not be like your fathers, ⁱto whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^fReturn from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But ^jthey did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And ^kthe prophets, do they live forever? 6 ^lBut my words and my statutes, which I commanded ^mmy servants the prophets, did they not ⁿovertake your fathers? So they repented and said, ^o‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for ^pour ways and ^pdeeds, so has he dealt with us.’”

A Vision of a Horseman

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^bZechariah, the son of ^cBerechiah, son of ^dIddo, saying, 8 “I saw in the night, and behold, ^qa man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were ^rred, sorrel, and white horses. 9 Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ ^sThe angel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ 10 So ^qthe man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ^t‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to ^upatrol the earth.’ 11 And they answered ^sthe angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ^u‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth ^vremains at rest.’ 12 Then ^sthe angel of the Lord said, ^w‘O Lord of hosts, ^whow long will you ^xhave no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these ^yseventy years?’ 13 And the Lord answered ^zgracious and comforting words to ^sthe angel who talked with me. 14 So ^sthe angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^aI am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 ^bAnd I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are ^cat ease; ^dfor while I was angry but a little, ^ethey furthered the disaster. 16 Therefore, thus says the Lord, ^fI have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; ^gmy house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and ^hthe measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ⁱMy cities shall again overflow with prosperity, ^jand the Lord will again comfort Zion and again ^kchoose Jerusalem.’”

A Vision of Horns and Craftsmen

18 ¹ And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, ^lfour horns! 19 And I said to ^sthe angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, ^l“These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” 20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?” He said, ^l“These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come ^mto terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations ⁿwho lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

Do Not Pass Judgment on One Another

1 As for ^mthe one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 ⁿOne person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and ^olet not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 ^pWho are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master¹ that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 ^qOne person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. ^rEach one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since ^she gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For ^tnone of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, ^uwhether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ ^vdied and lived again, that he might be Lord both ^wof the dead and of the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For ^wwe will all stand before ^xthe judgment seat of God; 11 for it is written,

12 So then ^zeach of us will give an account of himself to God.

Do Not Cause Another to Stumble

13 ^aTherefore let us not pass judgment on one another any longer, but rather decide ^bnever to put a stumbling block or hindrance in the way of a brother. 14 I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus ^cthat nothing is unclean in itself, ^dbut it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean. 15 For if your brother is grieved by what you eat, ^eyou are no longer walking in love. ^fBy what you eat, do not destroy the one for whom Christ died. 16 ^gSo do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil. 17 ^hFor the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but ⁱof righteousness and ^jpeace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Whoever thus serves Christ is ^kacceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us ^lpursue what makes for peace and for ^mmutual upbuilding.

20 ⁿDo not, for the sake of food, destroy the work of God. ^oEverything is indeed clean, but ^pit is wrong for anyone to make another stumble by what he eats. 21 ^qIt is good not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that causes your brother to stumble.³ 22 The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God. ^rBlessed is the one who has no reason to pass judgment on himself for what he approves. 23 But whoever has doubts is condemned if he eats, because the eating is not from faith. For whatever does not proceed from faith is sin.⁴