Zechariah
Summary
The visions of the HORSES, the HORNS, and the CARPENTERS. it begins with the call to return to the LORD following the failure of the fathers. it features the vision of the red horse among the myrtle trees and the comforting word that Jerusalem shall yet be chosen. it records the vision of the four horns representing the powers that scattered Judah, and the four carpenters sent to fray them. it conclude with the promise of divine mercy and the prosperity of the 'cities of the LORD'.
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
And he said to me, "What seest you?" And I answered, "I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits."
"Therefore say you to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; 'Turn you to Me,' says the LORD of hosts, 'and I will turn to you,' says the LORD of hosts."
"Be you not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts; Turn you now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings:' but they did not hear, nor hearken to Me, says the LORD."
"Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live forever?"
"But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, 'Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so has He dealt with us.'"
Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white.
Then said I, "O my lord, what are these?" And the angel that talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these be."
And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, "These are they whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro through the earth."
And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest."
Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, "O LORD of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?"
"Even He shall build the temple of the LORD; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both."
So the angel that communed with me said to me, "Cry you, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.'"
"And I am sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction."
"Therefore thus says the LORD; 'I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: Mine house shall be built in it,' says the LORD of hosts, 'and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.'"
"Cry yet, saying, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.'"
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.
And I said to the angel that talked with me, "What be these?" And he answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."
And the LORD showed me four carpenters.
Then said I, "What come these to do?" And he spoke, saying, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it."