Zechariah 3-6

Common English Bible

3 Then the Lord showed me the high priest Joshua, standing before the messenger from the Lord,
        and the Adversary^[a] was standing by his right side to accuse him.
² And the Lord said to the Adversary:
        “The Lord rebukes you, Adversary.
    The Lord, the one choosing Jerusalem, rebukes you.
        Is this one not a log snatched from the fire?”
³ Joshua was wearing filthy clothes and standing before the messenger.
⁴     He responded to those standing before him,
        “Take off his filthy clothes.”
And he said to Joshua,
    “Look, I have removed your guilt from you.
        Put on priestly robes.”
⁵     He^[b] said, “Put a clean turban upon his head.”
        So they put the clean turban upon his head,
            and they dressed him in garments while the Lord’s messenger stood by.
⁶ Then the Lord’s messenger admonished Joshua:
⁷     “The Lord of heavenly forces proclaims:
        If you will walk in my paths,
            if you will keep my charge,
            then you will lead my house and guard my courts,
            and I will allow you to walk among those standing here.
⁸ Now listen, High Priest Joshua,
    you and your companions sitting before you—
            for these men are a sign—
        look, I am about to bring my servant, Branch.
⁹         See this stone that I have put before Joshua.
        Upon one stone, there are seven facets.
            I am about to engrave an inscription on it,
            says the Lord of heavenly forces.
        I will remove the guilt of that land in one day.
¹⁰     On that day, says the Lord of heavenly forces,
        everyone will invite their neighbors to sit beneath their vines and the fig trees.”

² Then he said to me, “What do you see?”
I said, “I see a lampstand
    made entirely of gold.
        It has a bowl on top.
        The bowl has seven lamps on top
        and seven metal pipes for those lamps.
³     It has two olive trees beside the lampstand,
        one to the right of its bowl and one to the left.”
⁴ I responded to the messenger speaking with me,
    “What are these, sir?”
⁵ The messenger responded to me:
    “Don’t you know what these are?”
    I said, “No, sir. I don’t.”
⁶ He answered me:
    “This is the Lord’s word to Zerubbabel:
        Neither by power, nor by strength,
        but by my spirit, says the Lord of heavenly forces.”
⁷         Who are you, great mountain?
            Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain.
        He will present the capstone to shouts of great gratitude.

5 I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.
² And he said to me, “What do you see?”
I said, “I see a flying scroll, thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.”
³ He said to me, “This is the curse going out across all the land.
        Anyone stealing will be purged according to what’s on one side of the scroll,^[e]
        and anyone swearing lies^[f] will be purged according to what’s on the other side.
⁴ I sent it out, says the Lord of heavenly forces.
        It will come to the house of the thief and the one swearing lies in my name.
        It will lodge in their house and destroy the wood and stones of that house.”

“Look up and see what’s approaching.”
⁶ I said, “What’s this?”
He said, “This is the basket^[g] that is going out.
        This is how it appears^[h] throughout the entire land.”^[i]
7 Then a lead cover was lifted,
showing a woman sitting in the middle of the basket.
⁸     He said, “This is wickedness.”
        He shoved her back into the basket,
        and he put the lead stone over its opening.
⁹ I looked up again and saw two women going out.
        There was a wind in their wings;
        their wings were like the wings of a stork.
        They carried the basket between the earth and the sky.
¹⁰ I said to the messenger speaking with me,
    “Where are they taking the basket?”
¹¹ He said to me,
    “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar.
    It will be firmly placed there on its base.”

6 I looked up again
    and saw four chariots coming out from between two mountains;
            the mountains were made of bronze.
²         The first chariot had red horses,
        and the second chariot had black horses.
³         The third chariot had white horses,
        and the fourth chariot had horses that were heavily spotted.
⁴ I responded and said to the messenger speaking with me,
    “What are these, sir?”
⁵ The messenger answered and said to me,
    “These are the four winds of heaven that are going out
        after presenting themselves to the Lord of all the earth.
⁶ The one with the black horses is going to the north country;
        the white ones are going to the west;^[j]
        and the spotted ones are going south.”
⁷ Then the powerful ones approached, intent on going to patrol the earth.
He said, “Go! Patrol the earth!”
    So they patrolled the earth.
⁸ Then he called out and said to me,
    “Look, the ones going north have provided rest for my spirit in the north.”