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.

a Vision of Pardon and Restoration

Zec 1:1-17

Zechariah does not slur over the sins of the past, but lays stress on the divine forgiveness. His only fear is lest God should call in vain, and the people refuse as their fathers did. Notice the repetition of God's title, Lord of Hosts, five times in the first six verses. The enemy's armies were vast, but the protecting hosts, vaster. A glimpse of these hosts is given in the following vision. A green valley, filled with myrtles, the emblem of humility, where the prophet may have been wont to meditate, seemed alive with mysterious figures, who had been patrolling the earth, and announced that it was peace, for these were the days of Cyrus' illustrious reign. Notice the frequent reference to his celestial friend, Zec 1:9; Zec 1:14; Zec 1:19; Zec 4:1; Zec 4:4-5; Zec 5:5; Zec 5:10; Zec 6:4. The future was bright with promise, Zec 1:16-17.

the Redemption of Jerusalem

Zec 1:18-21; Zec 2:1-13

The work of Temple-building had ceased for fifteen years and the new resolve to arise and build might meet with a similar fate. But the four horns met with four carpenters. For Babylon the carpenter was Cyrus; for Persia, Alexander the Great; for Greece, the Roman; for Rome, the Gaul. No weapon that is formed to thwart God's purposes can prosper. The young man with the measuring line embodied the new spirit animating the returned exiles. But God was intending to give more prosperity and increase than could be contained in walls.