1In the eighth month of the second year of Dareyawesh, the word of יהוה came to Zeḵaryah son of Bereḵyah, son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

2“יהוה was very wroth with your fathers.

3“And you shall say to them, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back to Me,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and I shall turn back to you,” declares יהוה of hosts.

4“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not obey or give heed to Me,” declares יהוה.

5“Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

6“But My words and My laws, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?” “Then they turned back and said, ‘As יהוה of hosts planned to do to us, according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He has done with us.’ ” ’ ”

7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sheḇat, in the second year of Dareyawesh, the word of יהוה came to Zeḵaryah son of Bereḵyahu, son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

8“I looked at night and saw a man riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees in the shade. And behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white.”

9And I said, “My master, what are these?” And the messenger who was speaking to me said to me, “Let me show you what they are.”

10And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “They are the ones יהוה has sent to go throughout the earth.”

11And they answered the messenger of יהוה, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have gone throughout the earth, and see, all the earth is at peace and rest.”

12And the messenger of יהוה answered and said, “O יהוה of hosts, how long would You have no compassion on Yerushalayim and on the cities of Yehuḏah, against which You were enraged these seventy years?”

13And יהוה answered the messenger who talked to me, good words, comforting words.

14And the messenger who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “I have been jealous for Yerushalayim and for Tsiyon with great jealousy.

15“And I am very wroth with the nations who are at ease, for when I was a little wroth, they furthered the evil!”

16‘Therefore thus said יהוה, “I shall return to Yerushalayim with compassion. My house shall be built in it,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and a surveyor’s line be stretched out over Yerushalayim.” ’

17“Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Again My cities shall overflow with goodness. And יהוה shall again comfort Tsiyon, and shall again choosea Yerushalayim.” ’ ”

18And I lifted up my eyes and looked, and saw four horns.

19And I said to the messenger who was speaking to me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Yehuḏah, Yisra’ĕl, and Yerushalayim.”

20And יהוה showed me four craftsmen.

21And I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he spoke saying, “These are the horns that scattered Yehuḏah, so that no one lifted up his head. But these come to trouble them, to throw down the horns of the gentiles that lifted up their horn against the land of Yehuḏah to scatter it.”