Zechariah's Call to Repentance

(Isaiah 57:14-21; Jeremiah 3:11-25; Hosea 14:1-3)

1In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying: 2The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers. 3And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts. 4Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they hearken to me, saith the Lord. 5Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live always? 6But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us.

A Man among the Myrtle Trees

7In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet, saying: 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 horses, red, speckled, and white. 9And I said: What are these, my Lord ? and the angel that spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are: 10And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth. 11And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.

Mercy Promised to Jerusalem

12And 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 Juda, with which thou hast been angry? this is now the seventieth year. 13And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words, comfortable words. 14And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem, and Sion with a great zeal. 15And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy nations: for I was angry a little, but they helped forward the evil. 16Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem in mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: and the building line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. 17Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall yet flow with good things : and the Lord will yet comfort Sion, and he will yet choose Jerusalem.

The Four Horns and Four Craftsmen

18And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four horns. 19And I said to the angel that spoke to me: What are these? And he said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel, and Jerusalem. 20And the Lord shewed me four smiths. 21And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke, saying: These are the horns which have scattered Juda every man apart, and none of them lifted up his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast down the horns of the nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of Juda to scatter it.