Chronological Plan

¹In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

²“The LORD was extremely angry with your ancestors.

³So tell the people, ‘This is what the LORD of Armies says: Return to me — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — and I will return to you, says the LORD of Armies.

⁴Do not be like your ancestors; the earlier prophets proclaimed to them: This is what the LORD of Armies says: Turn from your evil ways and your evil deeds. But they did not listen or pay attention to me — this is the LORD’s declaration.

⁵Where are your ancestors now? And do the prophets live forever?

⁶But didn’t my words and my statutes that I commanded my servants the prophets overtake your ancestors? ’” So the people repented and said, “As the LORD of Armies decided to deal with us for our ways and our deeds, so he has dealt with us.”

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo:

⁸I looked out in the night and saw a man riding on a chestnut horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the valley. Behind him were chestnut, brown, and white horses.

⁹I asked, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who was talking to me replied, “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 patrol the earth.”

¹¹They reported to the angel of the LORD standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and right now the whole earth is calm and quiet.”

¹²Then the angel of the LORD responded, “How long, LORD of Armies, will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that you have been angry with these seventy years?”

¹³The LORD replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

¹⁴So the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim: The LORD of Armies says: I am extremely jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.

¹⁵I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made the destruction worse.

¹⁶Therefore, this is what the LORD says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; my house will be rebuilt within it — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

¹⁷“Proclaim further: This is what the LORD of Armies says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”

¹⁸Then I looked up and saw four horns.

¹⁹So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”

²⁰Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.

²¹I asked, “What are they coming to do?” He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised a horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.”

¹I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

²I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length.”

³Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him.

⁴He said to him, “Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the number of people and livestock in it.”

⁵The declaration of the LORD: “I myself will be a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it.”

⁶“Listen! Listen! Flee from the land of the north”  — this is the LORD’s declaration — “for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven” — this is the LORD’s declaration.

⁷“Listen, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon.”

⁸For the LORD of Armies says this: “In pursuit of his glory, he sent me against the nations plundering you, for whoever touches you touches the pupil of my eye.

⁹For look, I am raising my hand against them, and they will become plunder for their own servants. Then you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me.

¹⁰“Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you” — this is the LORD’s declaration.

¹¹“Many nations will join themselves to the LORD on that day and become my people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you.

¹²The LORD will take possession of Judah as his portion in the Holy Land, and he will once again choose Jerusalem.

¹³Let all people be silent before the LORD, for from his holy dwelling he has roused himself.”

¹Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD, with Satan standing at his right side to accuse him.

²The LORD said to Satan: “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! May the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

³Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.

⁴So the angel of the LORD spoke to those standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes!” Then he said to him, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with festive robes.”

⁵Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him in garments while the angel of the LORD was standing nearby.

⁶Then the angel of the LORD charged Joshua:

⁷“This is what the LORD of Armies says: If you walk in my ways and keep my mandates, you will both rule my house and take care of my courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

⁸“Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your colleagues sitting before you; indeed, these men are a sign that I am about to bring my servant, the Branch.

⁹Notice the stone I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes. I will engrave an inscription on it” — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “and I will take away the iniquity of this land in a single day.

¹⁰On that day, each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree.” This is the declaration of the LORD of Armies.

¹The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep.

²He asked me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top. The lampstand also has seven lamps at the top with seven spouts for each of the lamps.

³There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”

⁴Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵“Don’t you know what they are?” replied the angel who was speaking with me. I said, “No, my lord.”

⁶So he answered me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of Armies.

⁷‘What are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it! ’”

⁸Then the word of the LORD came to me:

⁹“Zerubbabel’s hands have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you.

¹⁰For who despises the day of small things? These seven eyes of the LORD, which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the ceremonial stone in Zerubbabel’s hand.”

¹¹I asked him, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?”

¹²And I questioned him further, “What are the two streams of the olive trees, from which the golden oil is pouring through the two golden conduits?”

¹³Then he inquired of me, “Don’t you know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied.

¹⁴“These are the two anointed ones,” he said, “who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

¹I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.

²“What do you see?” he asked me. “I see a flying scroll,” I replied, “thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”

³Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land, for everyone who is a thief, contrary to what is written on one side, has gone unpunished, and everyone who swears falsely, contrary to what is written on the other side, has gone unpunished.

⁴I will send it out,”  — this is the declaration of the LORD of Armies — “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by my name. It will stay inside his house and destroy it along with its timbers and stones.”

⁵Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Look up and see what this is that is approaching.”

⁶So I asked, “What is it?” He responded, “It’s a measuring basket that is approaching.” And he continued, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”

⁷Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket.

⁸“This is Wickedness,” he said. He shoved her down into the basket and pushed the lead weight over its opening.

⁹Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

¹⁰So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the basket?”

¹¹“To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal.”

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.”