1 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,

2 The LORD has been sore displeased with your fathers.

3 Therefore say you to them, Thus said the LORD of hosts; Turn you to me, said the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, said the LORD of hosts.

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

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

6 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.

7 On 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,

8 I saw by night, and behold a man riding on 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.

9 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.

10 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.

11 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.

12 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 have had indignation these three score and ten years?

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

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

15 And 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.

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

17 Cry yet, saying, Thus said 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.

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

19 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.

20 And the LORD showed me four carpenters.

21 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.

Zec 1:1. Zechariah; that is, the memory of God; a name which might seem prophetic, for the Lord remembered his people while yet in Babylon. He was contemporary with Haggai, and acted in concert with him. The Lord inspired him to speak of events which would befal the jews, till the advent of Christ; and to lose his views in the effulgence of the latter day. He foresaw, as Daniel did, the succession of the four monarchies to the coming of Christ, and the full establishment of the gospel kingdom.

Zec 1:8. I saw by night—a man riding upon a red horse. Michael, the archangel, prince of the jews; which by a figure is another name for the Messiah, red in his apparel, as described by others of the sacred writers. Isa 63:3. Rev 6:4. This vision represents his coming to fight for the emancipation of his people. The red colour is the dress of war. The Lord spake with, or literally in the prophet, as in the apostle. 2Co 13:3.

The myrtle trees that were in the bottom. Those trees are natives of Chaldea; but for bottom the Chaldaic paraphrase reads Babylon, situate in the lower grounds.

Zec 1:11. All the earth sitteth still, and is at rest. After the career of conquests by Nebuchadnezzar, the nations enjoyed a period of repose from war; so that no hope appeared of deliverance to the jews.

Zec 1:12. Then the angel said, oh Lord, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem. If this personage was Michael, all his pleadings are subordinate to the intercession of Christ.

Threescore and ten years. See on Jer 25:11.

Zec 1:18. Behold four horns. The horn is the emblem of power. The Chaldaic therefore reads, kingdoms. The jewish state had been broken by different powers, by the Edomites, the Philistines, the Syrians in Damascus, and finally by the Chaldeans. Those were the horns which had scattered the jewish people.

Zec 1:20. The Lord shewed me four carpenters. Some read four plowmen, meaning the four kings of Persia, who in succession repaired the breach, and healed the jewish nation, so that no power dared to molest them in their work of rebuilding the city and temple of Jerusalem. Heaven in a most unexpected manner turned the hearts of those kings to favour the return of the jews, and afford them subsequent protection. What other people were emancipated, with all their vessels of gold and silver, like this favoured but ungrateful people? Well did they sing their hallelujahs, as in the five last psalms. Dr. Lightfoot names Zerubbabel, Joshua, Ezra, and Nehemiah, as the four carpenters that repaired the breaches, but these were under the Persian princes.