Zechariah 1
(1) Intro: Come Back to God
It was the 8th month of Darius’s second year in command when the Existing One gave a message to Zechariah, one of God’s spokesmen. (Zechariah was Berechiah’s son and Iddo’s grandson.) Here’s the message that came to him:
“I (the Existing One) was mad at the generations that came before you. Tell the people that I say,
‘Come back to Me so I can come back to you. Don’t be like your parents. My spokesmen told them to turn away from their miserable ways and destructive practices, but they didn’t listen. Where is your parents’ generation now? And do the spokesmen live forever? The messages and instructions I gave to My servants (the spokesmen) caught up to your parents, didn’t they? Your parents admitted that I followed through with My plans for dealing with them according to their ways and actions.’”
(7) Vision 1: God Sent Horsemen to Walk the Earth
Here’s the message that came to Zechariah on the 24th of Shebat (the eleventh month on the Jewish calendar) during the second year of Darius’s rule:
It was night and I saw a man riding on a red horse. Then he was standing in a ravine full of Myrtle trees with red, light-brown, and white horses behind him. I asked him,
“Sir, what are these horses about?”
Then the messenger [angel] who was talking to me said,
“I’ll show you.”
Then the man standing in the trees said,
“They are the people the Existing One sent to walk the earth.”
The horses spoke to the Existing One’s messenger who was standing among the trees, saying,
“We’ve been walking all around the world, and now everyone is sitting quietly.”
(12) God Will Build His Temple in Jerusalem
Then the Existing One’s messenger said,
“Oh Existing One who commands all of creation, how long will You go without having any compassion on Jerusalem [Judah's capital] and the rest of Judah's cities? You’ve been mad at them for the past 70 years.”
The Existing One answered His messenger who has been talking to me with pleasant and comforting words. So the messenger turned to me and said,
“Make an announcement telling everyone that this is what the Existing One says:
‘I am extremely jealous for Jerusalem—but I’m furious with the other countries that are all smug and secure. I’m mad at them because they made the disaster worse back when I was just slightly annoyed. That’s why I’ll come back to Jerusalem and show them compassion. My house will be built in Jerusalem, and a measuring tape will be stretched across the entire city. My cities will once again overflow with good things. I’ll comfort Jerusalem once again and choose her again.’
(18) Vision 2: Craftsmen Will Terrify the Horns that Scattered Judah
Then I looked up and saw 4 horns, so I asked the messenger who was with me,
“What are these about?”
He answered,
“They’re the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
Then the Existing One showed me 4 craftsmen, so I asked,
“What’s significant about these guys?”
He answered,
“These horns are the ones who scattered Judah so far and wide that none of its citizens look up any more. But the craftsmen are here to terrify the horns and throw them down from the countries who opposed Judah’s horns and scattered its inhabitants.
