Zechariah · Majority Standard Bible
Zechariah 1 Majority Standard Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying:
1 In 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 “The LORD was very angry with your fathers.
2 “Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers.
3 So tell the people that 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.’
3 Therefore tell them, Yahweh of Armies says: ‘Return to me,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Yahweh of Armies.
4 Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD.
4 Don’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.
5 Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?
5 Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
6 But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
6 But 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.’”
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 the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.
7 On 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 looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
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.
9 “What are these, my lord?” I asked. And the angel who was speaking with me replied, “I will show you what they are.”
9 Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
10 The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”
11 And the riders answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”
11 They 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.”
12 Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”
12 Then 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?”
13 So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.
13 Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.
14 Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion,
14 So 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.
15 but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’
15 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, 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, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’
16 Therefore 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 that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose 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.”’”
18 Then I looked up and saw four horns.
18 I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, four horns.
19 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
19 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
20 Yahweh showed me four craftsmen.
21 “What are these coming to do?” I asked. And He replied, “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 that have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”
21 Then 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.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Berechiah
Son of Iddo and father of the prophet Zechariah.
Cited in the guide: Zechariah 1:1; Zechariah 1:7
Iddo
Named as the father of Berechiah and grandfather of the prophet Zechariah.
Cited in the guide: Ezra 5:1; Ezra 6:14; Zechariah 1:1
Zechariah
The prophet, son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, to whom the word of the LORD came in the eighth month of Darius's second year. Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 call him 'son of Iddo'; Zechariah…
Cited in the guide: Ezra 5:1; Ezra 6:14; Zechariah 1:1
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Nehemiah 12:4; Matthew 23:35; Zechariah 1:7; Haggai 1:1; Ezra 4:24–5:1
- 2 Jeremiah 44:6; Ezekiel 22:31; Psalm 79:5–6; Lamentations 5:7; Zephaniah 2:1–3
- 3 Jeremiah 3:22; Malachi 3:7; Joel 2:12; Deuteronomy 30:2–10; Jeremiah 4:1
- 4 Psalm 78:8; Ezekiel 33:11; Jeremiah 35:15; Psalm 106:6–7; Isaiah 1:16–19
- 5 2 Peter 3:2–4; Ecclesiastes 12:5; Psalm 90:10; Hebrews 9:27; Ecclesiastes 12:7
- 6 Lamentations 2:17; Ezekiel 12:25–28; Deuteronomy 28:15; Jeremiah 23:20; Matthew 24:35
- 7 Zechariah 1:1
- 8 Revelation 6:4; Isaiah 55:13; Revelation 2:1; Isaiah 41:19; Zechariah 13:7
- 9 Zechariah 4:4–5; Revelation 7:13–14; Genesis 31:11; Zechariah 2:3; Daniel 9:22–23
- 10 Zechariah 1:11; Zechariah 6:5–8; Hebrews 1:14; Job 2:1–2; Zechariah 1:8
- 11 Zechariah 1:10; Matthew 24:30–31; Zechariah 1:8; Psalm 103:20–21; Zechariah 1:15
- 12 Jeremiah 29:10; Psalm 74:10; Daniel 9:2; Zechariah 7:5; Psalm 102:13
- 13 Isaiah 40:1–2; Jeremiah 29:10; Zechariah 2:4–12; Zechariah 4:1; Zephaniah 3:14–20
- 14 Joel 2:18; Isaiah 40:6; Zechariah 1:17; Isaiah 40:1; Zechariah 1:9
- 15 Jeremiah 51:24; Ezekiel 25:12–17; Isaiah 54:8; Isaiah 47:6–9; Isaiah 10:5–7
- 16 Zechariah 8:3; Ezekiel 37:24–28; Zechariah 2:10–11; Ezra 6:14–15; Zechariah 4:9
- 17 Isaiah 51:3; Zechariah 2:12; Ezekiel 36:10–11; Isaiah 61:4–6; Psalm 69:35
- 18 2 Kings 24:1–20; Joshua 5:13; Daniel 8:3–14; Zechariah 5:9; 2 Kings 15:29
- 19 Zechariah 1:21; Ezra 4:4; Zechariah 2:2; Zechariah 8:14; Ezra 4:1
- 20 Zechariah 10:3–5; Zechariah 12:2–6; Zechariah 9:12–16; Obadiah 21; Micah 5:5–6
- 21 Psalm 75:10; Psalm 75:4–5; Lamentations 2:17; Zechariah 1:19; Daniel 12:7
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Turning herself she prays that God too would turn to her: as it is said, "Turn ye unto Me, and I will turn unto you, saith the Lord." Or is it to be understood according to that way of speaking, "Turn, O Lord," that is make me turn, since the soul in this her turning feels difficulty and toil?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… rest; and Haggai, Because I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts; and My Spirit remaineth in the midst of you; and in like manner Zechariah, But receive My words and My statutes which I command by My Spirit, to My servants the Prophets; and other passages.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)