Zec 1 | NASB2020 | STEP | In the eighth month of the second year of Darius , the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet , the son of Berechiah , the son of Iddo saying ,

Zechariah 1

A Call to Repentance

1 In the eighth month of the second year of ^aDarius, the word of the Lord came to ^bZechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of ^cIddo saying, 2 “The Lord was very ^dangry with your fathers. 3 Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “ ^eReturn to Me,” declares the Lord of armies, “ ^{▼▼Or and I will}that I may return to you,” says the Lord of armies. 4 “Do not be ^glike your fathers, to whom the ^hformer prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “ ⁱReturn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.”’ But they did ^jnot listen or pay attention to Me,” declares the Lord. 5 “Your ^kfathers, where are they? And the ^lprophets, do they live forever? 6 But did My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, not ^{▼▼Or reach
,} ⁿovertake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘ ^oJust as the Lord of armies planned to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’”’”

Patrol of the Earth

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, that is, the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, ^{▼▼Lit saying}as follows: 8 I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a ^qred horse, and he was standing among the ^rmyrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, ^{▼▼I.e., light reddish-brown}sorrel, and ^twhite horses behind him. 9 Then I said, “What are these, my ^ulord?” And the ^vangel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” 10 And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees responded and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to ^{▼▼Lit walk about through
,} ^xpatrol the earth.” 11 So they responded to the angel of the Lord who was ^ystanding among the myrtle trees and said, “We have ^{▼▼Lit walked about through}patrolled the earth, and behold, ^aaall the earth is ^{▼▼Lit sitting}still and quiet.”

12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord of armies, ^achow long will You ^adtake no pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been ^aeindignant for these ^afseventy years?” 13 And the Lord responded to the ^agangel who was speaking with me with ^{▼▼Lit good}gracious words, ^aicomforting words. 14 So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “ ^ajProclaim, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “I am ^akexceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. 15 But I am very ^alangry with the nations who are ^amcarefree; for while I was only a little angry, they ^{▼▼Lit helped for evil
,} ^aofurthered the disaster.” 16 Therefore the Lord says this: “I will ^apreturn to Jerusalem with compassion; My ^aqhouse will be built in it,” declares the Lord of armies, “and a measuring ^arline will be stretched over Jerusalem.”’ 17 Again, proclaim, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “My ^ascities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again ^atcomfort Zion and again ^auchoose Jerusalem.”’”

18 ^{▼▼Ch 2:1 in Heb}Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns. 19 So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the ^awhorns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” 20 Then the Lord showed me four ^axcraftsmen. 21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the ^ayhorns that have scattered Judah so that no one lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to frighten them, to ^azthrow down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”