\v 4 Do not be like your fathers to whom the prophets cried out previously, saying, “Yahweh of hosts says this: Turn from your evil ways and wicked practices!” But they would not hear and did not pay attention to me—this is Yahweh’s declaration.’
\v 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius’ reign, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,
\v 8 “I saw in the night, and, look! a man was riding on a red horse, and he was among the myrtle trees that are in the valley; and behind him there were red, reddish-brown, and white horses.”
\v 9 I said, “What are these things, Lord?” Then the angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these things are.”
\v 10 Then the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those Yahweh has sent out to roam throughout the earth.”
\v 11 They answered the angel of Yahweh who stood among the myrtle trees; they said to him, “We have been roaming throughout the earth; see, all the earth sits still and is at rest.”
\v 12 Then the angel of Yahweh answered and said, “Yahweh of hosts, how long will you show no compassion to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?”
\v 19 I spoke to the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
\v 21 I said, “What are these people coming to do?” He answered, and said, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no man would lift up his head. But the blacksmiths have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up a horn against the land of Judah to scatter her.”
\v 2 The angel of Yahweh said to Satan, “May Yahweh rebuke you, Satan; may Yahweh, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is this not a brand pulled from the fire?”
\v 4 The angel spoke and said to those who stood before him, “Remove the filthy garments from upon him.” Then he said to Joshua, “Look! I have caused your iniquity to pass from you and I will dress you in fine clothing.”
\v 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head!” So they set a clean turban on Joshua’s head and clothed him with clean garments, while the angel of Yahweh was standing by.
\v 2 He said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see a lampstand made entirely of gold, with a bowl on its top. It has seven lamps on it and seven lamp wicks at the top of each lamp.
\v 3 Two olive trees are by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on the left side.”
\v 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house and his hands will bring it to completion.” Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you.
\v 10 Who has despised the day of small things? These people will rejoice and will see the plumb stone in the hand of Zerubbabel. (These seven lamps are the eyes of Yahweh that roam over the whole earth.)
\v 3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land. For every thief will be cut off according to what it says on the one side, and everyone who swears a false oath will be cut off according to what it says on the other side.
\v 4 “I will send it out—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts—so it will enter into the house of the thief and into the house of the one that swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his house and consume its timber and stones.”
\f + \ft Some ancient and most modern versions have \fqa their iniquity \fqa* . The Hebrew text has \fqa their eye \fqa* , but this is widely thought to be an error. \f*
\v 7 Then a lead covering was lifted off the basket and there was a woman under it sitting in it!
\v 8 The angel said, “This is Wickedness!” He threw her back inside the basket, and he threw the lead cover over its opening.
\v 9 I lifted my eyes and saw two women coming toward me, and wind was in their wings—for they had wings like a stork’s wings. They lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
\v 10 So I said to the angel who was talking to me, “Where are they taking the basket?”
\v 11 He said to me, “To build a temple in the land of Shinar for it, so that when the temple is ready, the basket will be set there on its prepared base.”
\v 5 The angel answered and said to me, “These are the four winds of heaven that go out from the place where they were standing before the Lord of all the earth.
\v 6 The one with the black horses is going out to the north country; the white horses are going out to the west country; and the spotted gray horses are going out to the south country.”
\v 7 These strong horses went out and sought to go and roam over the earth, so the angel said, “Go and roam over the earth!” and they left for all the earth.
\v 8 Then he called out to me and spoke to me and said, “Look at the ones that are going out to the north country; they will appease my spirit concerning the north country.”
\v 10 “Take an offering from the exiles—from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah—and go this same day and take it into the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah, who has come from Babylon.
\v 15 Then those who are far off will come and build the temple of Yahweh, so you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me to you; for this will happen if you truly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God!’”
\v 3 They spoke to the priests who were at the house of Yahweh of hosts and to the prophets; they said, “Should I mourn in the fifth month by means of a fast, as I have done these many years?”
\v 5 “Speak to all the people of the land and to the priests and say, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month for these seventy years, were you truly fasting for me?
\v 7 Were these not the same words that Yahweh proclaimed by the mouth of the former prophets, when you still inhabited Jerusalem and the surrounding cities in prosperity and were settled in the Negev, and the foothills to the west?’”
\v 9 “Yahweh of hosts says this, ‘Judge with true justice, covenant faithfulness, and mercy. Let each man do this for his brother.
\v 10 About the widow and orphan, the foreigner, and the poor person—do not oppress them, and let none of you plot any harm against another in your heart.’
\v 11 But they refused to pay attention and set their shoulders stubbornly. They stopped up their ears so they would not hear.
\v 12 They made their hearts as hard as rock so they would not hear the law or the words of Yahweh of hosts. He had sent these messages to the people by his Spirit in earlier times, by the mouth of the prophets. But the people refused to listen, so Yahweh of hosts was very angry with them.
\v 13 It happened that when he called, they did not listen. In the same way,” said Yahweh of hosts, “they will call out to me, but I will not listen.
\v 14 For I will scatter them with a whirlwind to all the nations that they have not seen, and the land will be desolate after them. For no one will pass through the land or return to it since the people have made their delightful land into a wasteland.”
\v 3 Yahweh of hosts says this: I will return to Zion and will live in the midst of Jerusalem, for Jerusalem will be called The City of Truth and the mountain of Yahweh of hosts will be called The Holy Mountain!
\s5
\q
\v 4 Yahweh of hosts says this:
\q Old men and old women will once again be in the streets of Jerusalem,
\q and every person will need a staff in his hand because he has grown so old.
\q
\v 5 The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in them.
\s5
\q
\v 6 Yahweh of hosts says this:
\q If something seems impossible in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days,
\v 17 Do not plan to do evil within your heart against one another, and do not love false oaths—for these are the things I hate!—this is Yahweh’s declaration.”
\v 1 “This is a declaration of Yahweh’s word concerning the land of Hadrak and Damascus, its resting place; for the eyes of all humanity and all the tribes of Israel are toward Yahweh.
\v 5 Ashkelon will see and be afraid! Gaza also will tremble greatly! Ekron, her hopes will be disappointed! The king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon shall no longer be inhabited!
\v 6 Strangers will make their homes in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
\v 7 For I will remove their blood from their mouths and their abominations from between their teeth. Then they will become a remnant for our God like a clan in Judah, and Ekron will become like the Jebusites.
\v 8 I will camp around my land against enemy armies,\f + \ft Most interpreters translate the Hebrew words as \fqa against enemy armies \fqa* and some translate the Hebrew \fqa as a guard,\fqa* and so translate the phrase, \fqa I will surround my temple as a guard \fqa* . \f* so no one can pass through or return, for no oppressor will overrun them, for now I see with my own eyes!
\v 13 for I have bent Judah as my bow. I have filled my quiver with Ephraim. I have roused your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and have made you, Zion, like a warrior’s sword!”
\v 14 Yahweh will appear to them, and his arrows will shoot out like lightning! For my Lord Yahweh will blow the trumpet and will advance with the storms from Teman.
\v 15 Yahweh of hosts will defend them, and they will devour them and defeat the stones of the slings. Then they will drink and shout like men drunk on wine, and they will be filled with wine like bowls, like the corners of the altar.
\s5
\v 16 So Yahweh their God will rescue them on that day, as the flock of his people. They are the jewels of a crown that will shine on his land.
\v 3 “My wrath burns against the shepherds; it is the male goats—the leaders—that I will punish. Yahweh of hosts will also attend to his flock, the house of Judah, and make them like his warhorse in battle!
\v 4 From Judah will come the cornerstone; from him will come the tent peg; from him will come the war bow; from him will come every ruler together.
\f + \ft Many modern versions put the idea of \fqa together \fqa* at the start of the next verse. \f*
\v 5 They will be like warriors who trample their enemies into the mud of the streets in battle; they will make war, for Yahweh is with them, and they will shame those who ride warhorses.
\s5
\v 6 I will strengthen the house of Judah and save the house of Joseph; for I will restore them and have mercy on them. They will be as though I had not cast them off, for I am Yahweh their God, and I will respond to them.
\v 7 Then Ephraim will be like a warrior, and their hearts will rejoice as with wine; their children will see and rejoice. Their hearts will rejoice in me!
\s5
\p
\v 8 I will whistle for them and gather them, for I will rescue them, and they will become as great as they previously were!
\v 9 I sowed them among the peoples, but they will remember me in distant countries, so they and their children will live and return.
\v 10 For I will restore them from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon until there is no more room for them.
\s5
\v 11 I will pass through the sea of their affliction; I will strike the waves of that sea and will dry up all the depths of the Nile. The majesty of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will go away from the Egyptians.
‘Blessed be Yahweh! I have become rich!’ for the shepherds working for the flocks’ owners have no pity on them.)
\v 6 For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land!—this is Yahweh’s declaration. See! I myself am about to turn over every person into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king, and they will destroy the land and none of them will I deliver them from their hand.”
\v 7 So I became the shepherd of the flock marked for slaughter, for those who dealt in sheep. I took two staffs; one staff I called “Favor” and the other I called “Unity.” In this way I shepherded the flock.
\v 9 Then I said to the owners, “I will not work as a shepherd for you any longer. The sheep that are dying—let them die; the sheep that are being destroyed—let them be destroyed. Let the sheep that remain each eat the flesh of its neighbor.”
\v 13 Then Yahweh said to me, “Deposit the silver in the treasury, the excellent price at which they valued you!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and deposited them in the treasury in the house of Yahweh.
\v 14 Then I broke my second staff, “Unity,” to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
\v 16 for see, I am about to set in place a shepherd in the land. He will not care for the perishing sheep. He will not seek out the sheep gone missing, nor heal the crippled sheep. He will not feed the sheep that are healthy, but will eat the flesh of the fattened sheep and will tear off their hooves.
\s5
\q
\v 17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who forsakes the flock!
\q May the sword come against his arm and his right eye!
\v 1 This is a declaration of Yahweh’s word concerning Israel—a declaration of Yahweh, who stretched out the skies and laid the foundation of the earth, who fashions the spirit of mankind within man,
\v 2 “See, I am about to make Jerusalem into a cup causing all the peoples surrounding her to stagger about. It will also be like that for Judah during the siege against Jerusalem.
\v 3 On that day, I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. Anyone trying to lift that stone will hurt himself very much, and all the nations of the earth will gather against that city.
\v 4 On that day—this is Yahweh’s declaration—I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with madness. Over the house of Judah I will open my eyes, but every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness.
\v 6 On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like firepots among wood and like a flaming torch among standing grain, for they will consume all the surrounding peoples on their right and on their left. Jerusalem will again live in her own place.”
\v 7 Yahweh will save the tents of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and the honor of those who live in Jerusalem may not be greater than the rest of Judah.
\v 8 On that day Yahweh will be the defender of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and on that day those who are weak among them will be like David, while the house of David will be like God, like the angel of Yahweh in front of them.
\v 10 But I will pour out a spirit of compassion and pleading on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so they will look on me, the one they have pierced. They will mourn for me, as one mourns for an only son; they will bitterly lament for him like those who lament the death of a firstborn son.
\v 11 On that day the laments in Jerusalem will be like the laments at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.
\s5
\v 12 The land will mourn, each clan separate from other clans. The clan of the house of David will be separate and their wives will be separate from the men. The clan of the house of Nathan will be separate and their wives will be separate from the men.
\v 13 The clan of the house of Levi will be separate and their wives will be separate from the men. The clan of the Shimeites will be separate and their wives will be separate from the men.
\v 2 On that day—this is the declaration of Yahweh of hosts—I will cut off the names of the idols from the land and they will no longer be remembered. I will remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.
\v 3 If any man continues to prophesy, his father and mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You will not live, for you speak lies in the name of Yahweh!’ Then the father and mother who bore him will pierce him when he prophesies.
\v 4 On that day each prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he is about to prophesy. These prophets will no longer wear a hairy cloak, in order to deceive the people.
\v 1 Behold! A day for Yahweh is coming when your plunder will be divided in your midst.
\v 2 For I will gather every nation against Jerusalem for battle and the city will be captured. The houses will be plundered and the women raped. Half of the city will go out into captivity, but the remainder of the people will not be cut off from the city.
\s5
\v 3 But Yahweh will go out and wage war against those nations as when he wages war on the day of battle.
\v 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is beside Jerusalem to the east. The Mount of Olives will be split in half between the east and the west by a very great valley and half of the mountain will go back toward the north and half toward the south.
\v 5 Then you will flee down the valley between Yahweh’s mountains, for the valley between those mountains will reach to Azel. You will flee just as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. Then Yahweh my God will come and all the holy ones will be with him.
\v 6 On that day there will be no light, but no cold or frost either.
\v 7 On that day, a day known only to Yahweh, there will no longer be day or night, for the evening will be a time of light.
\v 8 On that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem. Half of them will flow to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.
\s5
\p
\v 9 Yahweh will be king over all the earth. On that day there will be Yahweh, the one God, and his name alone.
\v 10 All the land will be like the Arabah, from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will continue to be raised up and remain in its own place, from the Benjamin Gate to the place where the first gate was, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses.
\v 11 The people will live in Jerusalem and there will be no more complete destruction from God against them. Jerusalem will live in safety.
\s5
\p
\v 12 This will be the plague with which Yahweh will attack all the peoples that waged war against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot away even as they are standing on their feet. Their eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths.
\v 13 On that day that great fear from Yahweh will come among them. Each one will seize the hand of another, and the hand of one will be raised up against the hand of another.
\s5
\v 14 Judah will also fight against Jerusalem. They will gather the wealth of all the surrounding nations—gold, silver, and fine clothes in great abundance.
\v 15 A plague will also be on the horses and the mules, the camels and the donkeys, and on every animal in those camps will also suffer that same plague.
\s5
\p
\v 16 Then it will happen that all who remain in those nations that came against Jerusalem will instead go up from year to year to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, and to keep the Festival of Shelters.
\v 17 It will happen that if anyone from all the nations of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem to worship the king, Yahweh of hosts, then Yahweh will not bring rain on them.
\v 18 If the nation of Egypt does not go up, then they will not receive rain. A plague from Yahweh will attack the nations that do not go up to keep the Festival of Shelters.
\s5
\v 19 This will be the punishment for Egypt and the punishment for every nation that does not go up to keep the Festival of Shelters.
\v 20 But on that day, the bells of the horses will say, “Set apart to Yahweh,” and the basins in Yahweh’s house will be like the bowls before the altar.
\v 21 For every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be set apart to Yahweh of hosts and everyone who brings a sacrifice will eat from them and boil in them. On that day traders will no longer be in the house of Yahweh of hosts.
See in Reader
