Zechariah prophesied during the reign of Darius.

Zechariah was the son of Berechiah and the grandson of Iddo, and he was a prophet.

Yahweh was very angry with their fathers.

Yahweh of Armies said that if the people would return to him, he would return to them.

Their fathers would not hear and did not pay attention to Yahweh.

To make his point, Yahweh asked where the fathers were and whether the prophets live forever.

The people said that Yahweh of Armies had punished them for their behavior, just as he had planned and said he would do.

The word of Yahweh came to Zechariah on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius.

Zechariah saw a man riding on a red horse, standing among the myrtle trees in the deep valley. Behind him were red, reddish-brown, and white horses.

The angel said he would show Zechariah what the horses were.

The horses were those Yahweh had sent out to roam throughout the earth.

The horses found all the earth sitting and at rest.

The angel of Yahweh asked Yahweh how long he would show no compassion to Jerusalem and the cities of Judah.

Yahweh answered with good words, words of comfort.

The angel told Zechariah to proclaim that Yahweh, the commander of the heavenly armies, cares very deeply about Jerusalem and Zion.

Yahweh says he is very angry with the nations that feel secure, because they made the harm to his people worse.

Yahweh said he had returned to Jerusalem with mercies, that his house would be built within her, and the measuring line would be stretched out over Jerusalem. Yahweh also said his cities would once again overflow with goodness and Yahweh would again comfort Zion and once again choose Jerusalem.

Zechariah saw four horns.

The four horns were those who had scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

The craftsmen were coming to terrify the nations that had scattered Judah and to cast down the horns of the nations that had lifted up a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.

He saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

He was going to measure Jerusalem, to determine its width and its length.

Another angel came out to meet him.

The second angel said this because of the multitudes of men and beasts that would be within her.

Yahweh said he would become a wall of fire around her and he would be the glory in her midst.

Yahweh told them to flee from Babylon, because he had scattered them everywhere.

Yahweh told them to escape from Babylon.

Anyone who harms them harms what is most precious to Yahweh.

They would know that Yahweh of Armies had sent him when he waved his hand over the nations that had plundered Judah and Israel, and those nations would become plunder for their own slaves.

Yahweh told them to sing and rejoice, because he was coming to live among them.

Many nations will join themselves to Yahweh, and they will become his people.

Yahweh will claim Judah as his own special people in his holy land, and he will again choose Jerusalem.

All flesh is told to be silent before Yahweh because Yahweh has been roused from out of the heavens.

Joshua was standing before the angel of Yahweh, and the adversary was standing at his right hand.

The adversary was standing there to accuse Joshua.

Yahweh rebuked the adversary and said that Yahweh had chosen Jerusalem. He also compared Joshua to a firebrand rescued from the fire.

Joshua was dressed in filthy garments.

The angel commanded the filthy garments to be removed from Joshua and for him to be clothed with fine clothing. A clean turban and clean garments were put on him.

The angel said he had caused Joshua’s iniquity to pass away from him.

Yahweh promised that Joshua would judge Yahweh’s house and keep Yahweh’s courts. Yahweh also promised to give Joshua access among those who stand before him.

That servant was called the Branch.

Yahweh says he will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

Yahweh says this will happen in that day.

The angel who had been talking with him came back and woke him up.

Zechariah saw a gold lampstand with a bowl on top, with seven lamps and two olive trees by the bowl.

No, Zechariah told the angel who was talking with him that he did not understand the meaning of those things in the vision.

The word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel was, “Not by might and not by power, but by my Spirit.”

They will shout, “How beautiful! May God bless it!”

The people will know when they see that the hands of Zerubbabel, which founded this house, complete it.

The people will see the plumb line in Zerubbabel’s hand.

The seven lamps are the eyes of Yahweh that roam over the whole earth.

Zechariah asked what the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand meant.

He asked what were the two olive trees on either side of the lampstand.

He asked what the two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out olive oil meant.

Zechariah asked about the two branches of the olives beside the pipes that pour out the oil.

No, Zechariah told the angel that he did not know what they meant.

No, he did not.

The two olive branches are the two people whom God has anointed to serve the Lord who rules over the whole earth.

The scroll was twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.

The angel said the flying scroll was the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth.

The scroll was a curse to every thief and to everyone who swears falsely.

The curse will come to their houses and remain there and consume the timber and stones of their houses.

He told Zechariah to look up and see what is coming out.

The angel said the ephah was their eye in all of the earth.

She was sitting inside the basket.

The angel said the woman in the ephah was the wickedness.

The two women lifted up the ephah between the earth and between the heavens.

He asked where they were taking the ephah.

The women were taking the ephah to the land of Shinar to build a house for it, and when the house was ready, the ephah would be set there on its base.

Zechariah saw four chariots coming out from between two bronze mountains.

The first chariot had red horses, the second had black horses, the third had white horses, and the fourth had spotted gray horses.

He asked the angel about the horses and chariots he saw.

The angel said the chariots were the four winds of heaven.

These four chariots had been standing before the Lord of all the earth.

The chariot with the black horses went out to the north country. The chariot with white horses went out to the west country. The chariot with the spotted gray horses went out to the south country.

That chariot with the black horses was going to appease the angel’s spirit concerning the north country.

Zechariah was told to take the offering into the house of Josiah, son of Zephaniah. Zechariah was to take the silver and gold, make crowns and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

Yahweh said Joshua would see Branch build the temple of Yahweh, raise up its splendor, and then sit and rule on his throne.

Crowns were to be placed in the temple of Yahweh to as memorials to Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen the son of Zephaniah.

Yahweh said these events would happen “if you truly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God!”

The people of Bethel sent them to beg for Yahweh’s favor.

They asked, “Should I mourn in the fifth month by means of a fast, as I have done these many years?”

The first question Yahweh asked was, “When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month for these seventy years, were you truly fasting for me?” The second question was, “And when you ate and drank, did you not eat and drink for yourselves?”

In brief, Yahweh asked if these were not the same words Yahweh told the people while they still inhabited Jerusalem, the surrounding cities, the Negev, and the western foothills.

Yahweh said to judge with true justice, covenant faithfulness, and mercy. He said not to oppress the widow, the orphan, the foreigner or the poor person and not to do evil to one another.

The people refused to pay attention to Yahweh’s words.

They made their heart as a rock and would not listen.

Yahweh said he would not listen to them and, furthermore, he would scatter those people with a whirlwind to all the nations they had not seen.

Yahweh expresses his passion for Zion with great zeal and great anger.

Jerusalem will be called “the city of faithfulness,” and the mountain of Yahweh will be called “the mountain of holiness.”

Old men and old women will sit in the open areas, and boys and girls will fill the open areas, playing there.

These events will seem wonderful to the remnant of the people, but they will not seem wonderful to Yahweh.

Yahweh is going to rescue his people from the land of the sunrise and from the land of the setting sun.

Yahweh will be their God and they will be his people; he will be faithful to them and treat them fairly.

Yahweh wanted the people to strengthen their hands so the temple could be rebuilt.

Before that time, no one earned wages for their work, and no one could hire animals for work; no one was safe going about their daily activities because of enemies, and Yahweh caused everyone to fight against one another.

Yahweh said it would not be as in the former days. He said the seed of peace would be sown: the vine would give its fruit, the land would give its produce, and the heavens would give their dew. Yahweh would make the remnant of that people inherit all these things.

Yahweh says he will save them and make them a blessing instead of a curse.

Yahweh says he now plans to do good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah.

Yahweh said the people must all speak truth with their neighbors, and judge in their gates with faithfulness and a peaceful judgment. He said no one may plan evil in his heart against his neighbor, nor love a false oath—Yahweh commanded these things because he hates them.

They were told to love faithfulness and peace.

Yahweh said many people from many different cities and mighty nations would come to seek Yahweh and beg his favor.

They will grab the robe of a man of Judah and ask to go with him because they will have heard that God is with him.

Yahweh’s declaration concerns the land of Hadrach and Damascus, Hamath, and Tyre and Sidon.

Tyre has heaped up silver like dust and refined gold like the mud of the streets.

Yahweh says that the Lord will dispossess her and strike down her wealth on the sea, so she will be devoured by fire.

The king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

Yahweh said he would cut off the pride of the Philistines. Yahweh also said they would become a remnant for God, like a clan in Judah.

Yahweh said he would camp around his house against enemy armies so no one could pass through or return, for he said that no oppressor would pass through it any more.

They are told to do this because their king is coming to them with righteousness and is going to rescue them.

Their king will be humble and will ride on a donkey, on the colt of a donkey.

That king will speak peace to the nations.

That king’s dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

Yahweh says he has done this because of the blood of his covenant with them.

Yahweh declares that he will return double to them.

Yahweh will rouse the sons of Zion against the sons of Greece.

Yahweh will make Zion like the sword of a mighty man.

Yahweh’s arrow will go out like lightning, and he will blow the trumpet and go with the storms of the south.

Yahweh will protect his people, and they will defeat the enemies who attack them with slingstones.

On that day, Zion will be the jewels of a crown raised up over Yahweh’s land.

The young men will grow strong from grain, and the young women will grow strong from new wine.

Yahweh will give them rain showers, and he will make plants grow in the field.

The people wander like sheep and suffer because the household idols speak falsely, the diviners envision a lie, they tell empty dreams, and they give empty comfort. The people also have no shepherd.

Yahweh says he will punish the leaders, whom he calls the male goats.

Yahweh says the cornerstone, the tent peg, the battle bow, and every ruler will come from the house of Judah.

They will fight like warriors trampling their enemies in the mud of the streets, and they will defeat the horsemen because Yahweh is with them.

Yahweh said he would strengthen the house of Judah, save the house of Joseph, bring them back, and have compassion on them.

The people of Ephraim will be glad like warriors who have drunk wine, and their children will see it and rejoice in Yahweh.

Yahweh will whistle for his people and gather them together, and they will become as many as they were before.

They and their children will live and return when they remember Yahweh in the distant countries where he has scattered them.

Yahweh will gather his people from Egypt and Assyria, and he will bring them to the land of Gilead and Lebanon, where there will not be enough room for them.

Yahweh said he would bring down the pride of Assyria and take away the scepter of Egypt.

The people will live faithfully, honoring Yahweh’s name.

Lebanon is told to open its doors so that fire can burn up its cedar trees.

It causes the cypress trees to wail.

The shepherds are crying because their pastures have been destroyed.

Yahweh told Zechariah to shepherd the flock that was intended for slaughter.

The sellers say they praise Yahweh because they are becoming rich.

Yahweh said he would no longer pity them, but would let each man’s neighbor and king dominate him, and they would destroy the land, and he would not rescue them.

The names of the two staffs were “Favor” and “Union.”

Zechariah did this because he became impatient with the shepherds, and they also hated him.

Zechariah said he would no longer be their shepherd.

He broke it to break the covenant that he had made with all the peoples.

They knew that it was the word of Yahweh.

Zechariah was paid thirty pieces of silver.

Yahweh told him to throw it to the potter at the house of Yahweh.

Breaking the second staff broke the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Yahweh told him to take the tools of a foolish shepherd.

That shepherd will not care for the sheep. He will not help the sheep that are perishing, he will not search for the ones that have strayed, and he will not heal the ones that are injured. He will not feed the healthy sheep, but will eat the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.

The curse says that a sword will strike the shepherd’s arm and his right eye, and that his arm will wither and his right eye will become blind.

Yahweh is the one who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him.

Yahweh says he will make Jerusalem like a strong drink that makes all the surrounding peoples stagger.

All the nations of the earth are going to gather against Jerusalem.

Yahweh said he would strike every horse with confusion and each rider with madness. Yahweh also said he would strike every horse of the enemy nations with blindness.

The leaders of Judah will say that the people of Jerusalem are a strength to them through Yahweh of Armies, their God.

In that day, the leaders of Judah will be like a basin of fire among trees and like a torch of fire in a sheaf.

Yahweh will save the tents of Judah first so that the honor of the house of David and the honor of those who live in Jerusalem may not be greater than the rest of Judah.

Yahweh said he will defend the people of Jerusalem, and even the weakest among them will become as strong as David.

Yahweh said that on that day he is determined to destroy all the nations who come against Jerusalem.

Yahweh will pour out a spirit of favor and supplications.

When they look on him whom they have pierced, they will lament and mourn for him as one mourns and laments for an only son or over the death of a firstborn son.

The mourning in Jerusalem will be great, like the mourning of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

The land will mourn by clans: each clan will mourn separately, and within each clan, the men and their wives will mourn separately from each other.

The fountain will be for their sin and impurity.

Yahweh will cut off the names of idols from the land so they will no longer be remembered.

Yahweh will cause the false prophets and their unclean spirits to pass out of the land.

His father and mother who bore him will pierce him when he prophesies.

He will no longer wear a hairy cloak because he will no longer try to deceive people.

He will say that he is not a prophet, but works the land for a man who owned him since he was young.

He will say that someone wounded him at the house of his friends.

The shepherd is the man who is Yahweh’s close companion.

When the shepherd is killed, the flock will scatter.

Yahweh declares that two out of every three people in the land will die, and only one third of the people will remain alive.

The third that remain there will be brought through the fire, refined, and tested.

The third that remain there will say, “Yahweh is my God!”

Jerusalem’s plunder will be divided up within the city.

Jerusalem’s plunder will be divided in their midst because Yahweh will gather every nation against Jerusalem for battle, and the city will be captured. The houses will be plundered.

Yahweh will go out and wage war against those nations as when he wages war on a day of battle.

The Mount of Olives will be split in half, forming a very great valley between the two halves.

Yahweh and the holy ones will come after the inhabitants of Jerusalem flee down the valley between Yahweh’s mountains.

There will not be light; the bright lights will grow dim.

That day will not follow the normal cycle of day and night, and even in the evening there will be light.

Half of the water will go to the eastern sea, and half will flow toward the western sea.

Yahweh will be king over all the earth.

It will become flat like a plain, but Jerusalem will rise up and remain in its place.

There will not be destruction again, and Jerusalem will dwell in security.

The flesh, eyes, and tongues of all the people that waged war against Jerusalem will rot.

Each man will seize his neighbor’s hand; each hand will be raised against its neighbor’s hand.

Judah will fight at Jerusalem, and the wealth of the surrounding nations will be gathered—gold, silver, and garments in great abundance.

The horses, mules, camels, donkeys, and all the other animals in the camps will be struck with the same plague.

All those who remain in those nations will go up from year to year to worship the King, Yahweh of Armies, and to celebrate the Festival of Booths.

If anyone does not go up to Jerusalem, Yahweh will not bring rain on them. A plague from Yahweh will attack the nations that do not go up to keep the Festival of Booths.

Their sin will be that they do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Booths.

The bells of the horses will be inscribed with words saying that they are holy to Yahweh.

On that day traders will no longer be selling goods in the house of Yahweh of Armies.