Zechariah

In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king, a message from the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo. This is what it said:

1In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

NoteThe eighth month of the Hebrew calendar falls in our October–November. Darius is Darius I of Persia; his second year is 520 BC. Judah was then a small province of the Persian Empire, so events were dated by the reigning Persian king rather than by a king of Judah. Hebrew "son of" can mean any descendant, which is why Ezra 5:1 calls Zechariah simply "son of Iddo", grandson.

2The LORD was very angry with your ancestors.

2The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.

Note"Fathers" in the King James means ancestors generally, not male parents. The generation meant here is the one that lived before Jerusalem fell to Babylon in 587 BC and the people were deported.

3So tell the people this. This is what the LORD who commands armies says: Come back to me, says the LORD who commands armies, and I will come back to you, says the LORD who commands armies.

3Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye unto me, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will turn unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.

Note"The LORD of hosts" is Hebrew *YHWH tsevaot*, the LORD of the armies, meaning the heavenly forces at his command. LORD printed in capitals stands for the personal name of God, which Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud. "Turn" and "return" here are the same Hebrew verb (*shuv*), so the line has a deliberate echo: turn back to me, and I will turn back to you.

4Do not be like your ancestors. The prophets of long ago called out to them, saying, This is what the LORD who commands armies says: Turn away now from your evil ways and the evil things you do. But they would not listen, and they paid no attention to me, says the LORD.

4Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.

Note"The former prophets" are the prophets who spoke before the exile (figures such as Isaiah, Jeremiah and Amos) as against Zechariah's own generation speaking after the return.

5Your ancestors, where are they now? And the prophets, do they live forever?

5Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?

6But my words and my rules, which I ordered my servants the prophets to speak, did they not catch up with your ancestors? Then they changed their minds and said, The LORD who commands armies decided to deal with us as our ways and our deeds deserved, and that is exactly what he has done to us.

6But 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 unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

NoteThe Hebrew picture behind "take hold of" is of pursuit: the words chased the ancestors down and overtook them, like a pursuer catching a runner.

7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month called Shebat, in the second year that Darius was king, a message from the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo. This is what it said:

7Upon 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 unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

NoteShebat is the Babylonian name for the eleventh month, falling in our January–February; the Jews adopted these month names during the exile. The date is about February 519 BC, roughly three months after the message in verse 1.

8During the night I looked, and there was a man riding a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a low valley, and behind him were red, reddish brown, and white horses.

8I 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.

NoteThe myrtle is a dense evergreen shrub common in the hills around Jerusalem. "The bottom" means a hollow or deep valley. The riders would have suggested to a first hearer the mounted couriers of the Persian Empire, who patrolled the provinces and reported back to the king. The exact shade of the second color (King James "speckled") is uncertain in Hebrew; it is somewhere between red and brown.

9Then I asked, my lord, what are these? And the angel who was speaking with me said, I will show you what they are.

9Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be.

Note"My lord" is ordinary polite address to a superior, roughly "sir", not a divine title. The angel who speaks with Zechariah acts as his guide and interpreter through this and the following visions.

10Then the man standing among the myrtle trees answered, These are the ones the LORD has sent to go back and forth across the earth.

10And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

11And they reported to the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, We have gone back and forth across the earth, and look, the whole earth is quiet and at peace.

11And 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 sitteth still, and is at rest.

Note"All the earth sitteth still" means the world is undisturbed and quiet. After the revolts at the start of Darius's reign the Persian Empire had settled, peaceful for the empire, but a sign that nothing had yet changed for the Jews still living under it.

12Then the angel of the LORD said, LORD who commands armies, how long will you keep from showing mercy to Jerusalem and to the towns of Judah? You have been angry with them for seventy years now.

12Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, O LORD of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years?

NoteThe seventy years point back to Jeremiah's word that Babylon's domination would last seventy years (Jeremiah 25:11; 29:10). "Threescore and ten" is the King James way of writing seventy, a score is twenty.

13And the LORD answered the angel who was speaking with me with kind words, words that gave comfort.

13And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words.

14So the angel who was talking with me said to me, Call out this message. This is what the LORD who commands armies says: I care about Jerusalem and Zion with a fierce and protective love.

14So the angel that communed with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

NoteZion was originally the fortified hill David captured in Jerusalem; the name came to stand for the temple hill, and then for the city and its people as a whole. The Hebrew word behind "jealous" (*qanaʾ*) means fierce, possessive devotion (the passion of a husband for his wife, or of a man defending what is his), not petty envy.

15But I am very angry with the nations who live at ease. I was only a little angry with my people, but those nations made the suffering worse.

15And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.

Note"The heathen" is the King James rendering of the ordinary Hebrew word for the nations, meaning the peoples other than Israel; it carries no sense of savagery. "Helped forward the affliction" means they went beyond what was intended and made the punishment harsher than it was meant to be.

16So this is what the LORD says: I have come back to Jerusalem with mercy. My house will be rebuilt there, says the LORD who commands armies, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

16Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

Note"My house" is the temple in Jerusalem, destroyed by the Babylonians in 587 BC. Rebuilding had begun after the return from exile but had stalled for years. A measuring line was the builder's cord used to lay out a site; stretching it over a city was the standard sign that construction was about to begin.

17Call out again, saying, This is what the LORD who commands armies says: my towns will overflow with good things again. The LORD will comfort Zion again, and he will choose Jerusalem again.

17Cry yet, saying, Thus saith 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.

18Then I looked up, and there in front of me were four horns.

18Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

NoteA horn is a standard Hebrew image for strength and aggressive power, taken from a bull or ram driving with its horns; it stands for a king or a nation. Four suggests the four points of the compass, enemies from every direction.

19So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

19And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

20Then the LORD showed me four workmen who work with metal, stone, or wood.

20And the LORD shewed me four carpenters.

NoteThe King James "carpenters" is misleading: the Hebrew word covers any skilled worker in wood, stone or metal. Smiths are probably meant here, since their tools could cut off a horn.

21Then I asked, What are these coming to do? And he said, Those horns scattered Judah so completely that no one could even lift up his head. But these workmen have come to terrify the horns and throw down the horns of the nations, which raised their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.

21Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, 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.

Note"Fray" is old English for frighten or terrify. "Not lift up his head" is an idiom for being so crushed or humiliated that a person cannot hold himself upright. "Gentiles" is again the ordinary word for the nations; "lifted up their horn" means made a violent show of power.