Chapter 2

The Builders Encouraged

1 On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the Lord came by aHaggai the prophet saying,

2 “Speak now to aZerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, agovernor of Judah, and to aJoshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the bremnant of the people saying,

3 ‘Who is aleft among you who saw this 1temple in its bformer glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not 2seem to you like nothing 3in comparison?

4 ‘But now 1atake courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the Lord, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work; for bI am with you,’ declares the Lord of hosts.

5 ‘As for the 1apromise which I 2made you when you came out of Egypt, 3My bSpirit is abiding in your midst; cdo not fear!’

6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘aOnce more 1in a blittle while, I am going to cshake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land.

7 ‘I will shake aall the nations; and 1they will come with the bwealth of all nations, and I will cfill this house with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts.

8 ‘The asilver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the Lord of hosts.

9 ‘The latter aglory of this house will be greater than the bformer,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give cpeace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.”

10 On the atwenty-fourth of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Haggai the prophet, saying,

11 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘aAsk now the priests for a 1ruling:

12 ‘If a man carries aholy meat in the 1fold of his garment, and touches bread with 2this fold, or cooked food, wine, oil, or any other food, will it become holy?’ ” And the priests answered, “No.”

13 Then Haggai said, “aIf one who is unclean from a 1corpse touches any of these, will the latter become unclean?” And the priests answered, “It will become unclean.”

14 Then Haggai said, “ ‘aSo is this people. And so is this nation before Me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and so is every work of their hands; and what they offer there is unclean.

15 ‘But now, do 1aconsider from this day 2onward: before one bstone was placed on another in the temple of the Lord,

16 1from that time when one came to a grain heap of twenty measures, there would be only ten; and when one came to the wine vat to draw fifty 2measures, there would be only twenty.

17 ‘I smote you and every work of your hands with ablasting wind, mildew and hail; 1yet you did not come back to Me,’ declares the Lord.

18 ‘Do 1aconsider from this day 2onward, from the btwenty-fourth day of the ninth month; from the day when the temple of the Lord was cfounded, 1consider:

19 ‘Is the seed still in the barn? Even including the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate and the olive tree, it has not borne fruit. Yet from this day on I will abless you.’ ”

20 Then the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the atwenty-fourth day of the month, saying,

21 “Speak to aZerubbabel governor of Judah, saying, ‘I am going to bshake the heavens and the earth.

22 ‘I will aoverthrow the thrones of kingdoms and destroy the bpower of the kingdoms of the 1nations; and I will coverthrow the chariots and their riders, and the dhorses and their riders will go down, eeveryone by the sword of another.’

23 ‘On that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, My servant,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like a 1asignet ring, for bI have chosen you,’ ” declares the Lord of hosts.

The Book of

ZECHARIAH

Chapter 1

A Call to Repentance

1 In the eighth month of the second year of aDarius, the word of the Lord came to bZechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of cIddo saying,

2 “The Lord was very aangry with your fathers.

3 “Therefore say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “aReturn to Me,” declares the Lord of hosts, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of hosts.

4 “Do not be alike your fathers, to whom the bformer prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “cReturn now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.” ’ But they did dnot listen or give heed to Me,” declares the Lord.

5 “Your afathers, where are they? And the bprophets, do they live forever?

6 “But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, aovertake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘bAs the Lord of hosts purposed to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ”

Patrol of the Earth

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows:

8 I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a ared horse, and he was standing among the bmyrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel and cwhite horses behind him.

9 Then I said, “My alord, what are these?” And the bangel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

10 And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, “These are those whom the Lord has sent to 1apatrol the earth.”

11 So they answered the angel of the Lord who was astanding among the myrtle trees and said, “We have 1patrolled the earth, and behold, ball the earth is 2peaceful and quiet.”

12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “O Lord of hosts, ahow long will You bhave no compassion for Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been cindignant these dseventy years?”

13 The Lord answered the aangel who was speaking with me with 1gracious words, bcomforting words.

14 So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “aProclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “I am bexceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.

15 “But I am very aangry with the nations who are bat ease; for while I was only a little angry, they 1cfurthered the disaster.”

16 ‘Therefore thus says the Lord, “I will areturn to Jerusalem with compassion; My bhouse will be built in it,” declares the Lord of hosts, “and a measuring cline will be stretched over Jerusalem.” ’

17 “Again, proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “My acities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again bcomfort Zion and again cchoose Jerusalem.” ’ ”

18 1Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns.

19 So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he answered me, “These are the ahorns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

20 Then the Lord showed me four acraftsmen.

21 I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the ahorns which have scattered Judah so that no man lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to terrify them, to bthrow down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.”

Chapter 2

God’s Favor to Zion

1 1Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a ameasuring line in his hand.

2 So I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To ameasure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is.”

3 And behold, the aangel who was speaking with me was going out, and another angel was coming out to meet him,

4 and said to him, “Run, speak to that ayoung man, saying, ‘bJerusalem will be inhabited 1cwithout walls because of the dmultitude of men and cattle within it.

5 ‘For I,’ declares the Lord, ‘will be a awall of fire 1around her, and I will be the bglory in her midst.’ ”

6 “1Ho there! aFlee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have bdispersed you as the four winds of the heavens,” declares the Lord.

7 “Ho, Zion! aEscape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon.”

8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, “After 1aglory He has sent Me against the nations which plunder you, for he who touches you, touches the 2bapple of His eye.

9 “For behold, I will awave My hand over them so that they will be bplunder for their slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me.

10 “aSing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will bdwell in your midst,” declares the Lord.

11 “aMany nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will bdwell in your midst, and you will cknow that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.

12 “The Lord will 1apossess Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again bchoose Jerusalem.

13 “1aBe silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He is baroused from His holy habitation.”

Chapter 3

Joshua, the High Priest

1 Then he showed me aJoshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and 1bSatan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

2 The Lord said to Satan, “aThe Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has bchosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a cbrand plucked from the fire?”

3 Now Joshua was clothed with afilthy garments and standing before the angel.

4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “aRemove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have btaken your iniquity away from you and 1will cclothe you with festal robes.”

5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean aturban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

6 And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying,

7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will awalk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also bgovern My house and also have charge of My ccourts, and I will grant you 1free access among these who are standing here.

The Branch

8 ‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a asymbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the 1bBranch.

9 ‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are aseven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘and I will bremove the iniquity of that land in one day.

10 ‘In that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his avine and under his fig tree.’ ”