1

1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying, 2“Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers. 3Therefore tell them, Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies. 4Don’t you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Yahweh of Armies says, ‘Return now from your evil ways and from your evil doings;’ but they didn’t hear nor listen to me, says Yahweh. 5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers?

“Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”

7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying, 8“I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. 9Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’”

The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

10The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”

11They reported to Yahweh’s angel who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.”

12Then Yahweh’s angel replied, “O Yahweh of Armies, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?”

13Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words. 14So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. 15I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.” 16Therefore Yahweh says: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and a line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.”’

17“Proclaim further, saying, ‘Yahweh of Armies says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem.”’”

18I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns. 19I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?”

He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

20Yahweh showed me four craftsmen. 21Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?”

He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

2

1I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2Then I asked, “Where are you going?”

He said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.”

3Behold, the angel who talked with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him, 4and said to him, “Run, speak to this young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it. 5For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her.

6Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,’ says Yahweh; ‘for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,’ says Yahweh. 7‘Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.’ 8For Yahweh of Armies says: ‘For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. 9For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a plunder to those who served them; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me. 10Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion! For behold, I come and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh. 11Many nations shall join themselves to Yahweh in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell among you, and you shall know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. 12Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem. 13Be silent, all flesh, before Yahweh; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”

3

1He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. 2Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”

3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. 4He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”

5I said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.”

So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and Yahweh’s angel was standing by.

6Yahweh’s angel solomnly assured Joshua, saying, 7“Yahweh of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by. 8Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign; for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch. 9For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua: on one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10In that day,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

4

1The angel who talked with me came again and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 2He said to me, “What do you see?”

I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand all of gold, with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; 3and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it.”

4I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”

5Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

I said, “No, my lord.”

6Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies. 7Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’”

8Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, 9“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you. 10Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are Yahweh’s eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”

11Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on the left side of it?”

12I asked him the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”

13He answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?”

I said, “No, my lord.”

14Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

5

1Then again I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. 2He said to me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”

3Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land, for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side. 4I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”

5Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is that is appearing.”

6I said, “What is it?”

He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land— 7and behold, a lead cover weighing one talent was lifted up—and there was a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah basket.” 8He said, “This is Wickedness;” and he threw her down into the middle of the ephah basket; and he threw the lead weight on its mouth.

9Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were two women; and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky. 10Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are these carrying the ephah basket?”

11He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”