1 In the eighth
month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD
unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet,
saying,
2 The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
3 Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts;
Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto
you, saith the LORD of hosts.
4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have
cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from
your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not
hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.
5 Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live
for ever?
6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants
the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they
returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto
us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath
he dealt with us.
7 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which
is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word
of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of
Iddo the prophet, saying,
8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse,
and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom;
and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.
9 Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that
talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.
10 And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and
said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and
fro through the earth.
11 And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among
the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through
the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is
at rest.
12 Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts,
how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities
of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore
and ten years?
13 And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with
good words and comfortable words.
14 So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou,
saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem
and for Zion with a great jealousy.
15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at
ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward
the affliction.
16 Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem
with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD
of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
17 Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities
through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD
shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.
18 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.
19 And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these?
And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered
Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
20 And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.
21 Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying,
These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man
did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast
out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over
the land of Judah to scatter it.
Chapter 2
1 I lifted up mine
eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line
in his hand.
2 Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure
Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the
length thereof.
3 And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and
another angel went out to meet him,
4 And said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem
shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude
of men and cattle therein:
5 For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round
about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.
6 Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith
the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of
the heaven, saith the LORD.
7 Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of
Babylon.
8 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; After the glory hath he
sent me unto the nations which spoiled you: for he that toucheth
you toucheth the apple of his eye.
9 For, behold, I will shake mine hand upon them, and they shall
be a spoil to their servants: and ye shall know that the LORD
of hosts hath sent me.
10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and
I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the LORD.
11 And many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day,
and shall be my people: and I will dwell in the midst of thee,
and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto
thee.
12 And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy
land, and shall choose Jerusalem again.
13 Be silent, O all flesh, before the LORD: for he is raised
up out of his holy habitation.
Chapter 3
1 And he shewed
me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD,
and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan;
even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not
this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before
the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him,
saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him
he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee,
and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they
set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments.
And the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways,
and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge
my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee
places to walk among these that stand by.
8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows
that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold,
I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon
one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day.
10 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every
man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
Chapter 4
1 And the angel
that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that
is wakened out of his sleep,
2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked,
and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top
of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven
lamps, which are upon the top thereof:
3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the
bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me,
saying, What are these, my lord?
5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto
me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.
6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word
of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power,
but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof
with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.
8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house;
his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the
LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.
10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall
rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel
with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to
and fro through the whole earth.
11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive
trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left
side thereof?
12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two
olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the
golden oil out of themselves?
13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these
be? And I said, No, my lord.
14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand
by the LORD of the whole earth.
Chapter 5
1 Then I turned,
and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see
a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the
breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over
the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall
be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that
sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
4 I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall
enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him
that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the
midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof
and the stones thereof.
5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto
me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth
forth.
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that
goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through
all the earth.
7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this
is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst
of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth
thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there
came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they
had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the
ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do
these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of
Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her
own base. |