Parallel Bible results for "zechariah 1"

Zechariah 1

Good News Translation GNT

1 In the eighth month of the second year that Darius was emperor of Persia, the Lord gave this message to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo.

2 The Lord Almighty told Zechariah to say to the people, "I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors,

3 but now I say to you, "Return to me, and I will return to you.

4 Do not be like your ancestors. Long ago the prophets gave them my message, telling them not to live evil, sinful lives any longer. But they would not listen to me or obey me.

5 Your ancestors and those prophets are no longer alive.

6 Through my servants the prophets I gave your ancestors commands and warnings, but they disregarded them and suffered the consequences. Then they repented and acknowledged that I, the Lord Almighty, had punished them as they deserved and as I had determined to do.' "

7 In the second year that Darius was emperor, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (the month of Shebat), the Lord gave me a message in a vision at night.

8 I saw someone riding a red horse. He had stopped among some myrtle trees in a valley, and behind him were other horses - red, dappled, and white.

9 I asked him, "Sir, what do these horses mean?" He answered, "I will show you what they mean.

10 The Lord sent them to go and inspect the earth."

11 They reported to the angel: "We have been all over the world and have found that the whole world lies helpless and subdued."

12 Then the angel said, "Almighty Lord, you have been angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah for seventy years now. How much longer will it be before you show them mercy?"

13 The Lord answered the angel with comforting words,

14 and the angel told me to proclaim what the Lord Almighty had said: "I have a deep love and concern for Jerusalem, my holy city,

15 and I am very angry with the nations that enjoy quiet and peace. For while I was holding back my anger against my people, those nations made the sufferings of my people worse.

16 So I have come back to Jerusalem to show mercy to the city. My Temple will be restored, and the city will be rebuilt."

17 The angel also told me to proclaim: "The Lord Almighty says that his cities will be prosperous again and that he will once again help Jerusalem and claim the city as his own."

18 In another vision I saw four ox horns.

19 I asked the angel that had been speaking to me, "What do these horns mean?" He answered, "They stand for the world powers that have scattered the people of Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

20 Then the Lord showed me four workers with hammers.

21 I asked, "What have they come to do?" He answered, "They have come to terrify and overthrow the nations that completely crushed the land of Judah and scattered its people."

World English Bible WEB

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

2 "Yahweh was very displeased with your fathers.

3 Therefore tell them: Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: 'Return to me,' says Yahweh of Hosts, 'and I will return to you,' says Yahweh of Hosts.

4 Don't you be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says Yahweh of hosts, 'Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;' but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Yahweh.

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

6 But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn't they overtake your fathers? "Then they repented and said, 'Just as Yahweh of Hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'"

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

8 "I had a vision in the night, and, behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

9 Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."

10 The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones Yahweh has sent to go back and forth through the earth."

11 They reported to the angel of Yahweh who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked back and forth through the earth, and, behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace."

12 Then the angel of Yahweh replied, "O Yahweh of Hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?"

13 Yahweh answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.

14 So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

15 I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity."

16 Therefore thus says Yahweh: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says Yahweh of Hosts, "and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem."'

17 "Proclaim further, saying, 'Thus says Yahweh of Hosts: "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Yahweh will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem."'"

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

19 I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

20 Yahweh showed me four craftsmen.

21 Then I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."