1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: 2 “The LORD was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Say to them: 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 ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘This is what the LORD of hosts says: Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to me,” declares the LORD. 5 “Your ancestors—where are they? And the prophets—do they live forever? 6 But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? Then they returned and said, ‘Just as the LORD of hosts intended to deal with us according to our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.’ ”

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah the prophet, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo: 8 At night I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was speaking with me said, “I will show you what these are.” 10 The man standing among the myrtle trees answered, “These are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.” 11 They answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and the whole earth is quiet and at rest.” 12 Then the angel of the LORD said, “LORD of hosts, how long will you withhold compassion from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?” 13 The LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with good words, comforting words. 14 Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: This is what the LORD of hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. 15 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease. I was only a little angry, but they added to the harm.’ 16 Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion. My house will be rebuilt in it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.’ 17 Proclaim again: This is what the LORD of hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity. The LORD will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.’ ”

18 I lifted my eyes and saw four horns. 19 I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” He said to 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 said, “Those are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could lift his head. But these have come to terrify them, to throw down the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”