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¹Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. The mountains were made of bronze.

²The first chariot had chestnut horses, the second chariot black horses,

³the third chariot white horses, and the fourth chariot dappled horses — all strong horses.

⁴So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵The angel told me, “These are the four spirits of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth.

⁶The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south.”

⁷As the strong horses went out, they wanted to go patrol the earth, and the LORD said, “Go, patrol the earth.” So they patrolled the earth.

⁸Then he summoned me saying, “See, those going to the land of the north have pacified my Spirit in the northern land.”

⁹The word of the LORD came to me:

¹⁰“Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.

¹¹Take silver and gold, make a crown, and place it on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

¹²You are to tell him: This is what the LORD of Armies says: Here is a man whose name is Branch; he will branch out from his place and build the LORD’s temple.

¹³Yes, he will build the LORD’s temple; he will be clothed in splendor and will sit on his throne and rule. There will also be a priest on his throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two of them.

¹⁴The crown will reside in the LORD’s temple as a memorial to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen son of Zephaniah.

¹⁵People who are far off will come and build the LORD’s temple, and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the LORD your God.”

¹In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

²Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the LORD’s favor

³by asking the priests who were at the house of the LORD of Armies as well as the prophets, “Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?”

⁴Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me:

⁵“Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these seventy years, did you really fast for me?

⁶When you eat and drink, don’t you eat and drink simply for yourselves?

⁷Aren’t these the words that the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure, along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?”

⁸The word of the LORD came to Zechariah:

⁹“The LORD of Armies says this: ‘Make fair decisions. Show faithful love and compassion to one another.

¹⁰Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the resident alien or the poor, and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.’

¹¹But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.

¹²They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore intense anger came from the LORD of Armies.

¹³Just as he had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen, says the LORD of Armies.

¹⁴I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation.”

¹The word of the LORD of Armies came:

²The LORD of Armies says this: “I am extremely jealous for Zion; I am jealous for her with great wrath.”

³The LORD says this: “I will return to Zion and live in Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the Faithful City; the mountain of the LORD of Armies will be called the Holy Mountain.”

⁴The LORD of Armies says this: “Old men and women will again sit along the streets of Jerusalem, each with a staff in hand because of advanced age.

⁵The streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in them.”

⁶The LORD of Armies says this: “Though it may seem impossible to the remnant of this people in those days, should it also seem impossible to me?” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

⁷The LORD of Armies says this: “I will save my people from the land of the east and the land of the west.

⁸I will bring them back to live in Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their faithful and righteous God.”

⁹The LORD of Armies says this: “Let your hands be strong, you who now hear these words that the prophets spoke when the foundations were laid for the rebuilding of the temple, the house of the LORD of Armies.

¹⁰For prior to those days neither man nor animal had wages. There was no safety from the enemy for anyone who came or went, for I turned everyone against his neighbor.

¹¹But now, I will not treat the remnant of this people as in the former days” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

¹²“For they will sow in peace: the vine will yield its fruit, the land will yield its produce, and the skies will yield their dew. I will give the remnant of this people all these things as an inheritance.

¹³As you have been a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Don’t be afraid; let your hands be strong.”

¹⁴For the LORD of Armies says this: “As I resolved to treat you badly when your fathers provoked me to anger, and I did not relent,” says the LORD of Armies,

¹⁵“so I have resolved again in these days to do what is good to Jerusalem and the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.

¹⁶These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another; make true and sound decisions within your city gates.

¹⁷Do not plot evil in your hearts against your neighbor, and do not love perjury, for I hate all this” — this is the LORD’s declaration.

¹⁸Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me:

¹⁹The LORD of Armies says this: “The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth will become times of joy, gladness, and cheerful festivals for the house of Judah. Therefore, love truth and peace.”

²⁰The LORD of Armies says this: “Peoples will yet come, the residents of many cities;

²¹the residents of one city will go to another, saying: Let’s go at once to plead for the LORD’s favor and to seek the LORD of Armies. I am also going.

²²Many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the LORD of Armies in Jerusalem and to plead for the LORD’s favor.”

²³The LORD of Armies says this: “In those days, ten men from nations of every language will grab the robe of a Jewish man tightly, urging: Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.”

¹A pronouncement: The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrach, and Damascus is its resting place — for the eyes of humanity and all the tribes of Israel are on the LORD  —

²and also against Hamath, which borders it, as well as Tyre and Sidon, though they are very shrewd.

³Tyre has built herself a fortress; she has heaped up silver like dust and gold like the dirt of the streets.

⁴Listen! The Lord will impoverish her and cast her wealth into the sea; she herself will be consumed by fire.

⁵Ashkelon will see it and be afraid; Gaza too, and will writhe in great pain, as will Ekron, for her hope will fail. There will cease to be a king in Gaza, and Ashkelon will become uninhabited.

⁶A mongrel people will live in Ashdod, and I will destroy the pride of the Philistines.

⁷I will remove the blood from their mouths and the abhorrent things from between their teeth. Then they too will become a remnant for our God; they will become like a clan in Judah and Ekron like the Jebusites.

⁸I will encamp at my house as a guard, against those who march back and forth, and no oppressor will march against them again, for now I have seen with my own eyes.

⁹Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout in triumph, Daughter Jerusalem! Look, your King is coming to you; he is righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem. The bow of war will be removed, and he will proclaim peace to the nations. His dominion will extend from sea to sea, from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹As for you, because of the blood of your covenant, I will release your prisoners from the waterless cistern.

¹²Return to a stronghold, you prisoners who have hope; today I declare that I will restore double to you.

¹³For I will bend Judah as my bow; I will fill that bow with Ephraim. I will rouse your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece. I will make you like a warrior’s sword.

¹⁴Then the LORD will appear over them, and his arrow will fly like lightning. The Lord GOD will sound the trumpet and advance with the southern storms.

¹⁵The LORD of Armies will defend them. They will consume and conquer with slingstones; they will drink and be rowdy as if with wine. They will be as full as the sprinkling basin, like those at the corners of the altar.

¹⁶The LORD their God will save them on that day as the flock of his people; for they are like jewels in a crown, sparkling over his land.

¹⁷How lovely and beautiful! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine, the young women.

¹Ask the LORD for rain in the season of spring rain. The LORD makes the rain clouds, and he will give them showers of rain and crops in the field for everyone.

²For the idols speak falsehood, and the diviners see illusions; they relate empty dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep; they suffer affliction because there is no shepherd.

³My anger burns against the shepherds, so I will punish the leaders. For the LORD of Armies has tended his flock, the house of Judah; he will make them like his majestic steed in battle.

⁴The cornerstone will come from Judah. The tent peg will come from them and also the battle bow and every ruler. Together

⁵they will be like warriors in battle trampling down the mud of the streets. They will fight because the LORD is with them, and they will put horsemen to shame.

⁶I will strengthen the house of Judah and deliver the house of Joseph. I will restore them because I have compassion on them, and they will be as though I had never rejected them. For I am the LORD their God, and I will answer them.

⁷Ephraim will be like a warrior, and their hearts will be glad as if with wine. Their children will see it and be glad; their hearts will rejoice in the LORD.

⁸I will whistle and gather them because I have redeemed them; they will be as numerous as they once were.

⁹Though I sow them among the nations, they will remember me in the distant lands; they and their children will live and return.

¹⁰I will bring them back from the land of Egypt and gather them from Assyria. I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon, but it will not be enough for them.

¹¹The LORD will pass through the sea of distress and strike the waves of the sea; all the depths of the Nile will dry up. The pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will come to an end.

¹²I will strengthen them in the LORD, and they will march in his name — this is the LORD’s declaration.