1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:

² `Jehovah was wroth against your fathers -- wrath!

³ And thou hast said unto them, Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, turn back unto Me, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And I turn back unto you, said Jehovah of Hosts.

⁴ Ye shall not be as your fathers, To whom the former prophets called, saying: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Turn back I pray you, From your evil ways and from your evil doings, And they did not hearken, Nor attend to Me -- an affirmation of Jehovah.

⁵ Your fathers -- where [are] they? And the prophets -- to the age do they live?

⁶ Only, My words, and My statutes, That I commanded My servants the prophets, Have they not overtaken your fathers, And they turn back and say: As Jehovah of Hosts designed to do to us, According to our ways, and according to our doings, So He hath done to us?'

⁷ On the twenty and fourth day of the eleventh month, (it [is] the month of Sebat,) in the second year of Darius, hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:

⁸ I have seen by night, and lo, one riding on a red horse, and he is standing between the myrtles that [are] in the shade, and behind him [are] horses, red, bay, and white.

⁹ And I say, `What [are] these, my lord?' And the messenger who is speaking with me saith unto me, `I -- I do shew thee what these [are].'

¹⁰ And the one who is standing between the myrtles doth answer and say, `These [are] they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk up and down in the land.'

¹¹ And they answer the messenger of Jehovah who is standing between the myrtles, and say, `We have walked up and down in the land, and lo, all the land is sitting still, and at rest.'

¹² And the messenger of Jehovah answereth and saith, `Jehovah of Hosts! till when dost Thou not pity Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, that Thou hast abhorred these seventy years?'

¹³ And Jehovah answereth the messenger, who is speaking with me, good words, comfortable words.

¹⁴ And the messenger who is speaking with me, saith unto me, `Call, saying: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: I have been zealous for Jerusalem, and for Zion [with] great zeal.

¹⁵ And [with] great wrath I am wroth against the nations who are at ease, For I was a little wroth, and they assisted -- for evil.

¹⁶ Therefore, thus said Jehovah: I have turned to Jerusalem with mercies, My house is built in it, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And a line is stretched over Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Again call, saying: Thus said Jehovah of Hosts, Again do my cities overflow from good, And Jehovah hath again comforted Zion, And He hath fixed again on Jerusalem.'

¹⁸ And I lift up mine eyes, and look, and lo, four horns.

¹⁹ And I say unto the messenger who is speaking with me, `What [are] these?' And he saith unto me, `These [are] the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.'

²⁰ And Jehovah doth shew me four artizans.

²¹ And I say, `What [are] these coming in to do?' And He speaketh, saying: `These [are] the horns that have scattered Judah, so that no one hath lifted up his head, and these come in to trouble them, to cast down the horns of the nations who are lifting up a horn against the land of Judah -- to scatter it.'

2 And I lift up mine eyes, and look, and lo, a man, and in his hand a measuring line.

² And I say, `Whither are thou going?' And he saith unto me, `To measure Jerusalem, to see how much [is] its breadth, and how much its length.'

³ And lo, the messenger who is speaking with me is going out, and another messenger is going out to meet him,

⁴ and he saith unto him, `Run, speak unto this young man, saying: Unwalled villages inhabit doth Jerusalem, From the abundance of man and beast in her midst.

⁵ And I -- I am to her -- an affirmation of Jehovah, A wall of fire round about, And for honour I am in her midst.

⁶ Ho, ho, and flee from the land of the north, An affirmation of Jehovah, For, as the four winds of the heavens, I have spread you abroad, An affirmation of Jehovah.

⁷ Ho, Zion, be delivered who art dwelling [with] the daughter of Babylon.

⁸ For thus said Jehovah of Hosts: After honour He hath sent me unto the nations who are spoiling you, For he who is coming against you, Is coming against the daughter of His eye.

⁹ For lo, I am waving my hand against them, And they have been a spoil to their servants. And ye have known that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me.

¹⁰ Singe, and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, For lo, I am coming, and have dwelt in thy midst, An affirmation of Jehovah.

¹¹ And joined have been many nations unto Jehovah in that day, And they have been to Me for a people, And I have dwelt in thy midst, And thou hast known that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me unto thee.

¹² And Jehovah hath inherited Judah, His portion on the holy ground, And He hath fixed again on Jerusalem.

¹³ Hush, all flesh, because of Jehovah, For He hath been roused up from His holy habitation!'

3 And he sheweth me Joshua the high priest standing before the messenger of Jehovah, and the Adversary standing at his right hand, to be an adversary to him.

² And Jehovah saith unto the Adversary: `Jehovah doth push against thee, O Adversary, Yea, push against thee doth Jehovah, Who is fixing on Jerusalem, Is not this a brand delivered from fire?'

³ And Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and is standing before the messenger.

⁴ And he answereth and speaketh unto those standing before him, saying: `Turn aside the filthy garments from off him.' And he saith unto him, `See, I have caused thine iniquity to pass away from off thee, so as to clothe thee with costly apparel.'

⁵ He also said, `Let them set a pure diadem on his head. And they set the pure diadem on his head, and clothe him with garments. And the messenger of Jehovah is standing,

⁶ and the messenger of Jehovah doth protest to Joshua, saying:

⁷ `Thus said Jehovah of Hosts: If in My ways thou dost walk, And if My charge thou dost keep, Then also thou dost judge My house, And also thou dost keep My courts, And I have given to thee conductors among these standing by.

⁸ Hear, I pray thee, Joshua, the high priest, Thou and thy companions sitting before thee, (For men of type [are] they,) For lo, I am bringing in My servant -- a Shoot.

⁹ For lo, the stone that I put before Joshua, On one stone [are] seven eyes, Lo, I am graving its graving, An affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, And I have removed the iniquity of that land in one day.

¹⁰ In that day -- an affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts, Ye do call, each unto his neighbour, Unto the place of the vine, And unto the place of the fig-tree!'

4 And the messenger who is speaking with me doth turn back, and stir me up as one who is stirred up out of his sleep,

² and he saith unto me, `What art thou seeing?' And I say, `I have looked, and lo, a candlestick of gold -- all of it, and its bowl [is] on its top, and its seven lamps [are] upon it, and twice seven pipes [are] to the lights that [are] on its top,

³ and two olive-trees [are] by it, one on the right of the bowl, and one on its left.'

⁴ And I answer and speak unto the messenger who is speaking with me, saying, `What [are] these, my lord?'

⁵ And the messenger who is speaking with me answereth and saith unto me, `Hast thou not known what these [are]?' And I say, `No, my lord.'

⁶ And he answereth and speaketh unto me, saying: `This [is] a word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying: Not by a force, nor by power, But -- by My Spirit, said Jehovah of Hosts.

⁷ Who [art] thou, O great mountain Before Zerubbabel -- for a plain! And he hath brought forth the top-stone, Cries of Grace, grace -- [are] to it.'

⁸ And there is a word of Jehovah to me, saying,

⁹ Hands of Zerubbabel did found this house, And his hands do finish it, And thou hast known that Jehovah of Hosts Hath sent me unto you.

¹⁰ For who trampled on the day of small things, They have rejoiced, And seen the tin weight in the hand of Zerubbabel, These seven [are] the eyes of Jehovah, They are going to and fro in all the land.'

¹¹ And I answer and say unto him, `What [are] these two olive-trees, on the right of the candlestick, and on its left?'

¹² And I answer a second time, and say unto him, `What [are] the two branches of the olive trees that, by means of the two golden pipes, are emptying out of themselves the oil?'

¹³ And he speaketh unto me, saying, `Hast thou not known what these [are]?' And I say, `No, my lord.'

¹⁴ And he saith, `These [are] the two sons of the oil, who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.'

5 And I turn back, and lift up mine eyes, and look, and lo, a flying roll.

² And he saith unto me, `What art thou seeing?' And I say, `I am seeing a flying roll, its length twenty by the cubit, and its breadth ten by the cubit.'

³ And he saith unto me, `This [is] the execration that is going forth over the face of all the land, for every one who is stealing, on the one side, according to it, hath been declared innocent, and every one who hath sworn, on the other side, according to it, hath been declared innocent.

⁴ `I have brought it out -- an affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts -- and it hath come in unto the house of the thief, and unto the house of him who hath sworn in My name to a falsehood, and it hath remained in the midst of his house, and hath consumed it, both its wood and its stones.'

⁵ And the messenger who is speaking with me goeth forth, and saith unto me, `Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and see what [is] this that is coming forth?'

⁶ And I say, `What [is] it?' And he saith, `This -- the ephah that is coming forth.' And he saith, `This [is] their aspect in all the land.

⁷ And lo, a cake of lead lifted up; and this [is] a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.'

⁸ And he saith, `This [is] the wicked woman.' And he casteth her unto the midst of the ephah, and casteth the weight of lead on its mouth.

⁹ And I lift up mine eyes, and see, and lo, two women are coming forth, and wind in their wings; and they have wings like wings of the stork, and they lift up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.

¹⁰ And I say unto the messenger who is speaking with me, `Whither [are] they causing the ephah to go?'

¹¹ And he saith unto me, `To build to it a house in the land of Shinar.' And it hath been prepared and hath been placed there on its base.

6 And I turn back, and lift up mine eyes, and look, and lo, four chariots are coming forth from between two of the mountains, and the mountains [are] mountains of brass.

² In the first chariot [are] red horses, and in the second chariot brown horses,

³ and in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot strong grisled horses.

⁴ And I answer and say unto the messenger who is speaking with me, `What [are] these, my lord?'

⁵ And the messenger answereth and saith unto me, `These [are] four spirits of the heavens coming forth from presenting themselves before the Lord of the whole earth.

⁶ The brown horses that [are] therein, are coming forth unto the land of the north; and the white have come forth unto their hinder part; and the grisled have come forth unto the land of the south;

⁷ and the strong ones have come forth, and they seek to go to walk up and down in the earth;' and he saith, `Go, walk up and down in the earth;' and they walk up and down in the earth.

⁸ And he calleth me, and speaketh unto me, saying, `See, those coming forth unto the land of the north have caused My Spirit to rest in the land of the north.'

⁹ And there is a word of Jehovah unto me, saying,

¹⁰ to take of the captivity (who came from Babylon) from Heldai, from Tobijah, and from Jedaiah, `and thou hast come in -- thou, in that day, yea, thou hast come into the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah,

¹¹ and thou hast taken silver and gold, and hast made a crown, and hast placed on the head of Joshua son of Josedech, the high priest,

¹² and hast spoken unto him, saying: Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: Lo, a man! A Shoot -- [is] his name, And from his place he doth shoot up, And he hath built the temple of Jehovah.

¹³ Yea, he doth build the temple of Jehovah, And he doth bear away honour, And he hath sat and ruled on His throne, And hath been a priest on His throne, And a counsel of peace is between both.

¹⁴ And the crown is to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah.

¹⁵ And the far-off come in, and they have built in the temple of Jehovah, and ye have known that Jehovah of Hosts hath sent me unto you, yea, it hath come to pass, if ye do certainly hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God.'

7 And it cometh to pass, in the fourth year of Darius the king hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah, in the fourth of the ninth month, in Chisleu.

² And Beth-El sendeth Sherezer and Regem-Melech, and its men, to appease the face of Jehovah,

³ speaking unto the priests who [are] at the house of Jehovah of Hosts, and unto the prophets, saying, `Do I weep in the fifth month -- being separated -- as I have done these so many years?'

⁴ And there is a word of Jehovah of Hosts unto me, saying:

⁵ `Speak unto all the people of the land, and unto the priests, saying:

⁶ When ye fasted with mourning in the fifth and in the seventh [months] -- even these seventy years -- did ye keep the fast [to] Me -- Me? And when ye eat, and when ye drink, is it not ye who are eating, and ye who are drinking?

⁷ `Are not [these] the words that Jehovah proclaimed by the hand of the former prophets, in Jerusalem's being inhabited, and [in] safety, and its cities round about it, and the south and the plain -- abiding?'

⁸ And there is a word of Jehovah unto Zechariah, saying:

⁹ `Thus spake Jehovah of Hosts, saying: True judgment judge ye, And kindness and mercy do one with another.

¹⁰ And widow, and fatherless, Sojourner, and poor, ye do not oppress, And the calamity of one another ye do not devise in your heart.

¹¹ And they refuse to attend, And they give a refractory shoulder, And their ears have made heavy against hearing.

¹² And their heart they have made adamant, Against hearing the law, and the words, That Jehovah of Hosts sent by His Spirit, By the hand of the former prophets, And their is great wrath from Jehovah of Hosts.

¹³ And it cometh to pass, as He called, And they have not hearkened, So do they call, and I do not hearken, Said Jehovah of Hosts.

¹⁴ And I toss them on all the nations, That they have not known, The land hath been desolate behind them, Of any passing by and turning back, And they set a desirable land for a desolation!