The Daily Audio Bible
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Israel Urged to Repent
1 In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo, saying:(A) 2 “The Lord was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Therefore say to them: Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return to me, says the Lord of hosts, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts.(B) 4 Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or heed me, says the Lord.(C) 5 Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your ancestors? So they repented and said, ‘The Lord of hosts has dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he planned to do.’ ”(D)
First Vision: The Horsemen
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 son of Berechiah son of Iddo: 8 In the night I saw a man mounted on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the shadows,[a] and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.(E) 9 Then I said, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who spoke with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”(F) 10 So the man who was standing among the myrtle trees answered, “They are those whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.”(G) 11 Then they spoke to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and the whole earth remains at peace.”(H) 12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which you have been angry these seventy years?”(I) 13 Then the Lord replied with gracious and comforting words to the angel who spoke with me.(J) 14 So the angel who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim this message: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I am very zealous for Jerusalem and for Zion,(K) 15 and I am extremely angry with the nations that are at ease, for while I was only a little angry, they made the disaster worse.(L) 16 Therefore, thus says the Lord: I have returned to Jerusalem with compassion; my house shall be built in it, says the Lord of hosts, and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Jerusalem.(M) 17 Proclaim further: Thus says the Lord of hosts: My cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.”(N)
Second Vision: The Horns and the Smiths
18 [b]And I looked up and saw four horns. 19 I asked the angel who spoke with me, “What are those?” And he answered me, “Those are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” 20 Then the Lord showed me four blacksmiths. 21 And I asked, “What are they coming to do?” He answered, “Those are the horns that scattered Judah, so that no head could be raised, but these have come to terrify them, to strike down the horns of the nations that lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”[c](O)
The Woman and the Dragon
12 A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. 2 She was pregnant and was crying out in birth pangs, in the agony of giving birth.(A) 3 Then another portent appeared in heaven: a great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns and seven diadems on his heads.(B) 4 His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. Then the dragon stood before the woman who was about to deliver a child, so that he might devour her child as soon as it was born.(C) 5 And she gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule[a] all the nations with a scepter of iron. But her child was snatched away and taken to God and to his throne,(D) 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, so that there she can be nourished for one thousand two hundred sixty days.(E)
Michael Defeats the Dragon
7 And war broke out in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his angels fought back,(F) 8 but they were defeated, and there was no longer any place for them in heaven. 9 The great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world—he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.(G)
10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven proclaiming,
“Now have come the salvation and the power
and the kingdom of our God
and the authority of his Messiah,[b]
for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down,
who accuses them day and night before our God.(H)
11 But they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony,
for they did not cling to life even in the face of death.(I)
12 Rejoice then, you heavens
and those who dwell in them!
But woe to the earth and the sea,
for the devil has come down to you
with great wrath
because he knows that his time is short!”(J)
The Dragon Fights Again on Earth
13 So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued[c] the woman who had delivered the male child. 14 But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle, so that she could fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to her place where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time.(K) 15 Then from his mouth the serpent poured water like a river after the woman, to sweep her away with the flood.(L) 16 But the earth came to the help of the woman; it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. 17 Then the dragon was angry with the woman and went off to wage war on the rest of her children, those who keep the commandments of God and hold the testimony of Jesus.(M)
The First Beast
18 Then the dragon[d] took his stand on the sand of the seashore.
Psalm 140
Prayer for Deliverance from Enemies
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evildoers;
protect me from those who are violent,(A)
2 who plan evil things in their minds
and stir up wars continually.(B)
3 They make their tongue sharp as a snake’s,
and under their lips is the venom of vipers. Selah(C)
4 Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;
protect me from the violent
who have planned my downfall.(D)
5 The arrogant have hidden a trap for me,
and with cords they have spread a net,[a]
along the road they have set snares for me. Selah(E)
6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God;
give ear, O Lord, to the voice of my supplications.”(F)
7 O Lord, my Lord, my strong deliverer,
you have covered my head in the day of battle.(G)
8 Do not grant, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;
do not further their evil plot.[b] Selah(H)
17 The eye that mocks a father
and scorns to obey a mother
will be pecked out by the ravens of the valley
and eaten by the vultures.(A)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.