Zechariah 1:7-2:17
New Catholic Bible
Renewal of the Holy City[a]
The Four Horsemen.[b] 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo.
Zechariah related: 8 During the night I had a vision in which a man was riding a red horse among the myrtle trees in a glen. Behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. 9 “What are these, sir?” I asked, and the angel who was conversing with me said, “I will show you what they are.”
10 The man standing among the myrtle trees said, “They are the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.” 11 Then they in turn spoke to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have been patrolling the earth, and the entire earth is tranquil and at peace.”
12 Then the angel of the Lord asked, “O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold your mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah who have been the object of your wrath for the last seventy years?” 13 Thereupon, the Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who had talked with me.
14 The angel who was talking with me then said to me: Proclaim this message. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I feel very protective toward Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am deeply angry with the nations that feel complacent and secure. Previously I was angry only to a certain extent, but they added to the disaster.
16 Therefore, says the Lord, I will return to Jerusalem with compassion, and there is where my house will be rebuilt, says the Lord of hosts, and the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem. 17 Proclaim in addition: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities will once again overflow with prosperity. The Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.
Chapter 2
Vision of the Four Horns and the Workers.[c] 1 I looked up and beheld four horns. 2 I inquired of the angel who was conversing with me what these were. He answered me, “These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
3 Then the Lord showed me four blacksmiths. And I said, “What are these coming to do?” 4 He replied, “Those horns scattered Judah so completely that no one dared to raise his head. However, those blacksmiths have come to terrify them and to strike down the horns of the nations that raised their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter its people.”
The New Jerusalem.[d] 5 Following this, I raised my eyes and observed a man with a measuring line in his hand. 6 When I asked him, “Where are you going?” he replied, “To measure Jerusalem, to discover what is its width and what is its length.”
7 When the angel who was talking to me walked away, another angel came out to meet him 8 and said to him, “Run and tell that young man: Jerusalem will remain without walls because of the great multitude of men and animals dwelling there. 9 But I will be a wall of fire all around it, says the Lord. And I will be the glory within it.”
10 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,
says the Lord.
For I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,
says the Lord.
11 Away, away! Escape to Zion,
you who presently live in daughter Babylon.
12 For thus said the Lord of hosts
after he sent me forth,
in regard to the nations that plundered you:
Whoever touches you
touches the apple of my eye.
13 Behold, I will wave my hand over them,
and they will be plunder
for those they have enslaved.
Thus you will know
that the Lord of hosts has sent me.
14 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion.
For I am coming to dwell in your midst,
says the Lord.
15 On that day
many nations will be converted to the Lord.
Yes, they will become his people,
and he will dwell among you.
Then you will know that the Lord of hosts
has sent me to you.
16 The Lord will claim Judah
as his portion in the holy land,
and once again he will choose Jerusalem.
17 Let all people be silent
in the presence of the Lord.
For he has roused himself
from his holy dwelling.
Footnotes
- Zechariah 1:7 Twenty years have passed since the authorization was given to return, but not all have made the journey to Jerusalem, nor are they anxious to do so. On the other hand, those who did make the journey are now asking whether it had not been a mistake. The building of the temple seems at last to be progressing, but all do not have the same enthusiasm for it. In order to raise morale, the prophet presents a first series of visions: God is on the point of restoring his people, and he asks the doubtful to return to Judah and take part in the work of reconstruction.
- Zechariah 1:7 The scene takes place in God’s dwelling, as the evergreen myrtle trees symbolically indicate.
- Zechariah 2:1 Measuring the city signifies that it will be rebuilt.
- Zechariah 2:5 The prophet urges the exiles to rejoin their brothers and sisters in Palestine, because God has for the first time returned to his temple (see Ezek 43:1-12).
