Oct 5 - Zechariah 1-6

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:²"The LORD was very angry with your forefathers.³Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty.⁴Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.' But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.⁵Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?⁶But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers? "Then they repented and said, 'The LORD Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.'" The Man Among the Myrtle Trees⁷On 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 the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.⁸During the night I had a vision-and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.⁹I asked, "What are these, my lord?" The angel who was talking with me answered, "I will show you what they are."¹⁰Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to go throughout the earth."¹¹And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace."¹²Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?"¹³So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.¹⁴Then the angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion,¹⁵but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.'¹⁶"Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,' declares the LORD Almighty.¹⁷"Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.'"¹⁸Then I looked up-and there before me were four horns!¹⁹I asked the angel who was speaking to me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem."²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.²¹I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He answered, "These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people."

Chapter 2

¹Then I looked up-and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand!²I asked, "Where are you going?" He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is."³Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him⁴and said to him: "Run, tell that young man, 'Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it.⁵And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,' declares the LORD, 'and I will be its glory within.'⁶"Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north," declares the LORD, "for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven," declares the LORD.⁷"Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!"⁸For this is what the LORD Almighty says: "After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you-for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye-⁹I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.¹⁰"Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD.¹¹"Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.¹²The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.¹³Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling."

Chapter 3

¹Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.²The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"³Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.⁴The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."⁵Then I said, "Put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.⁶The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua:⁷"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.⁸"'Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.⁹See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.¹⁰"'In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,' declares the LORD Almighty."

Chapter 4

¹Then the angel who talked with me returned and wakened me, as a man is wakened from his sleep.²He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lights on it, with seven channels to the lights.³Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."⁴I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"⁵He answered, "Do you not know what these are?No, my lord," I replied.⁶So he said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' says the LORD Almighty.⁷"What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!'"⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me:⁹"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.¹⁰"Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. "(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.)"¹¹Then I asked the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?"¹²Again I asked him, "What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?"¹³He replied, "Do you not know what these are?No, my lord," I said.¹⁴So he said, "These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth."

Chapter 5

¹I looked again-and there before me was a flying scroll!²He asked me, "What do you see?" I answered, "I see a flying scroll, thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. "³And he said to me, "This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished.⁴The LORD Almighty declares, 'I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in his house and destroy it, both its timbers and its stones.'"⁵Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, "Look up and see what this is that is appearing."⁶I asked, "What is it?" He replied, "It is a measuring basket. "And he added, "This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land."⁷Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman!⁸He said, "This is wickedness," and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed the lead cover down over its mouth.⁹Then I looked up-and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.¹⁰"Where are they taking the basket?" I asked the angel who was speaking to me.¹¹He replied, "To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When it is ready, the basket will be set there in its place."

Chapter 6

¹I looked up again-and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains-mountains of bronze!²The first chariot had red horses, the second black,³the third white, and the fourth dappled-all of them powerful.⁴I asked the angel who was speaking to me, "What are these, my lord?"⁵The angel answered me, "These are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world.⁶The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward the south."⁷When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, "Go throughout the earth!" So they went throughout the earth.⁸Then he called to me, "Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit rest in the land of the north."⁹The word of the LORD came to me:¹⁰"Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.¹¹Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak.¹²Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD.¹³It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.'¹⁴The crown will be given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the LORD.¹⁵Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God."