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the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:
2 “The Lord was very angry with your forefathers. 3 Therefore tell the people: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Return to Me”, declares the Lord of Hosts, “and I will return to you”, says the Lord of Hosts. 4 “Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they would not listen or pay attention to Me”, declares the Lord. 5 “Your forefathers, where are they now? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But did not My words and My decrees, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers?
“Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord of Hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and according to our deeds, just as He purposed to do’ ” ’.”
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 son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo:
8 During the night I looked and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown, and white horses.
9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”
The angel who was talking with me answered, “I will show you what they are.”
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to patrol throughout the earth.”
11 And they reported to the Angel of the Lord, who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled throughout the earth, and found that the whole earth remains calm and quiet.”
12 Then the Angel of the Lord said, “How long, O Lord of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, which You have been angry with these seventy years?” 13 And the Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.
14 So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this message: ‘The Lord of Hosts says: “I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am extremely angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was a little angry, but they made it worse”.
16 ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I am returning to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt”, says the Lord of Hosts, “and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem” ’.
17 “Proclaim further: ‘This is what the Lord of Hosts says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem” ’.”
18 Then I looked up, and there before me were four horns. 19 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these?”
He answered me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, “What are these coming to do?”
He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no one could lift up his head. But these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”