1 In the eighth month, in the second year of ^aDarius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet ^bZechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 2 “The Lord was very angry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, Thus declares the Lord of hosts: ^cReturn to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. 4 ^dDo not be like your fathers, to whom the ^eformer prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^fReturn from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did ^gnot hear or pay attention to me, declares the Lord. 5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not ^hovertake your fathers? So they repented and said, ⁱ‘As the Lord of hosts purposed to deal with us for our ways and deeds, so has he dealt with us.’”

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 Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, 8 “I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a ^jred horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen, and behind him were red, sorrel, and ^kwhite horses. 9 Then I said, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The ^langel who talked with me said to me, ‘I will show you what they are.’ 10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, ‘These are they whom the Lord has sent to ^mpatrol the earth.’ 11 And they answered the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, and said, ‘We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth remains at rest.’ 12 Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these ⁿseventy years?’ 13 And the Lord answered gracious and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, ‘Cry out, Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^oI am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion. 15 And I am exceedingly angry with the nations that are ^pat ease; for ^qwhile I was angry but a little, they furthered the disaster. 16 Therefore, ^rthus says the Lord, I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy; ^smy house shall be built in it, declares the Lord of hosts, and the ^tmeasuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Cry out again, Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and ^uagain choose Jerusalem.’”

18 ¹ And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns! 19 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “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, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one raised his head. And these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

1 ² And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a ^vmeasuring line in his hand! 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

6 ^wUp! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord. 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me³ to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the ^xapple of his eye: 9 “Behold, I will ^yshake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that ^zthe Lord of hosts has sent me. 10 ^aSing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord. 11 And many nations shall ^bjoin themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will ^cagain choose Jerusalem.”

13 ^dBe silent, all flesh, before the Lord, for he has roused himself from ^ehis holy dwelling.

1 Then he showed me ^fJoshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and ^gSatan^{4 h}standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, ⁱ“The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a ^jbrand⁵ plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will ^kclothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean ^lturban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.

6 And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the ^mBranch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with ⁿseven eyes,⁶ I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the ^oiniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, ^pevery one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.”

1 And the ^qangel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, ^r“What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and ^sseven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And there are ^ttwo olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to ^uZerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall ^vbecome a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”

8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have ^wlaid the foundation of this house; ^xhis hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that ^ythe Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

“These ^zseven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.” 11 Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 And a second time I answered and said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil⁷ is poured out?” 13 He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 14 Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones⁸ who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll! 2 And he said to me, ^a“What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”⁹ 3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is ^bon one side, and everyone who swears falsely¹⁰ shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side. 4 I will send it out, declares the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. And it shall remain in his house and consume it, both timber and stones.”

5 Then the ^cangel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” 6 And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket¹¹ that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity¹² in all the land.” 7 And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! 8 And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.

9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He said to me, “To the land of ^dShinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.”

1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains. And the mountains were mountains of bronze. 2 The first chariot had ^ered horses, the second ^fblack horses, 3 the third ^gwhite horses, and the fourth chariot ^hdappled horses—all of them strong.¹³ 4 Then I answered and said to the ⁱangel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 And the angel answered and said to me, “These are going out to the ^jfour winds of heaven,¹⁴ after presenting themselves before the ^kLord of all the earth. 6 The chariot with the black horses goes toward the north country, the white ones go after them, and the dappled ones go toward the south country.” 7 When the strong horses came out, they were impatient to go and ^lpatrol the earth. And he said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth. 8 Then he cried to me, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have set my Spirit at rest in the north country.”

9 And the word of the Lord came to me: 10 “Take from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go the same day to the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah. 11 Take from them silver and gold, and make a crown, and set it on the head of Joshua, the son of ^mJehozadak, the high priest. 12 And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the ⁿBranch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. 13 It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there¹⁵ shall be a ^opriest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ 14 And the crown shall be in the temple of the Lord as a reminder to Helem,¹⁶ Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.

15 “And ^pthose who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord. And you shall know that ^qthe Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass, if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.”

1 In the fourth year of King ^rDarius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev. 2 Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer and Regem-melech and their men to entreat the favor of the Lord, 3 saying to the priests of the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets, “Should I weep and abstain in the ^sfifth month, as I have done for so many years?”

4 Then the word of the Lord of hosts came to me: 5 “Say to all the people of the land and the priests, ‘When you ^tfasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for ^uthese seventy years, was it for me that you fasted? 6 And when you eat and when you drink, do you not eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves? 7 Were not these the words that the Lord proclaimed by the ^vformer prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and prosperous, with her cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”

8 And the word of the Lord came to Zechariah, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ^wRender ^xtrue judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, 10 do not oppress the ^ywidow, the fatherless, the sojourner, or the poor, and let none of you ^zdevise evil against another in your heart.” 11 But they refused to pay attention and turned a ^astubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.¹⁷ 12 They made their hearts ^bdiamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the Lord of hosts. 13 ^c“As ^dI¹⁸ called, and they would not hear, so ^ethey called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts, 14 “and I ^fscattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations that they had not known. Thus the land they left was desolate, so that no one went to and fro, and the ^gpleasant land was made desolate.”

1 And the word of the Lord of hosts came, saying, 2 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^hI am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath. 3 ⁱThus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion and will ^jdwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain. 4 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. 5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. 6 Thus says the Lord of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, ^kshould it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the Lord of hosts? 7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country, 8 and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”

9 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Let your hands ^lbe strong, you who in these days have been hearing these words from the mouth of the prophets who were present on the day that the ^mfoundation of the house of the Lord of hosts was laid, that the temple might be built. 10 For before those days there was ⁿno wage for man or any wage for beast, neither was there any safety from the foe for him who went out or came in, for I set every man against his neighbor. 11 But now I will not deal with the remnant of this people as in the former days, declares the Lord of hosts. 12 For there shall be a sowing of peace. ^oThe vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its produce, and the heavens shall give their ^pdew. And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things. 13 And as you have been a ^qbyword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and ^ryou shall be a blessing. Fear not, but let your hands be strong.”

14 For thus says the Lord of hosts: “As I ^spurposed to bring disaster to you when your fathers provoked me to wrath, and I did not relent, says the Lord of hosts, 15 so again have I purposed in these days to bring good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear not. 16 These are the things that you shall do: ^tSpeak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are ^utrue and make for peace; 17 do not ^vdevise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no ^wfalse oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord.”

18 And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying, 19 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: The ^xfast of the ^yfourth month and the fast of the ^zfifth and the fast of the ^aseventh and the fast of the ^btenth shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy and gladness and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.

20 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities. 21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.’ 22 ^cMany peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. 23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: ^dIn those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, ‘Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”