Study Desk

Then the Angel of the Lord responded, "How long, Lord of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah that You have been angry with these 70 years?"^(f)

The Lord replied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

So the angel who was speaking with me said, "Proclaim: The Lord of Hosts says: I am extremely jealous^(g) for Jerusalem and Zion.

I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease, for I was a little angry, but they made it worse.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says: In mercy, I have returned to Jerusalem; My house will be rebuilt within it"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—"and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

"Proclaim further: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the Lord will once more comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem."^(h)

^[a]Then I looked up and saw four horns.

So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these?" And he said to me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen.

I asked, "What are they coming to do?" He replied, "These are the horns that scattered Judah so no one could raise his head. These craftsmen have come to terrify them, to cut off the horns of the nations that raised their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it."

^[a]I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

I asked, "Where are you going?" He answered me, "To measure Jerusalem to determine its width and length."

Then the angel who was speaking with me went out, and another angel went out to meet him.

He said to him, "Run and tell this young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls because of the number of people and livestock in it."^(a)

The declaration of the Lord : "I will be a wall^(b) of fire around it, and I will be the glory within it."

"Get up! Leave the land of the north"^(c)—this is the Lord 's declaration—"for I have scattered you like the four winds of heaven"—this is the Lord 's declaration.

"Go, Zion! Escape, you who are living with Daughter Babylon."

For the Lord of Hosts says this: "He has sent Me^[b] for His glory against the nations who are plundering you, for anyone who touches you touches the pupil^[c] of His^[d] eye.

I will move against them with My^[e] power, and they will become plunder for their own servants.^(d) Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me.^[f]

"Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad, for I am coming to dwell among you"—this is the Lord 's declaration.

"Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become My^[g] people.^(e) I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me^[h] to you.

The Lord will take possession of Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will once again choose Jerusalem.^(f)

Let all people be silent^(g) before the Lord , for He is coming from His holy dwelling."

Then he showed me Joshua^(a) the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord ,^(b) with Satan^[a](c) standing at his right side to accuse him.

The Lord ^[b] said to Satan: "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn't this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"^(d)

Now Joshua was dressed with filthy^[c] clothes^(e) as he stood before the Angel.^(f)

So the Angel of the Lord ^[d] spoke to those^[e] standing before Him, "Take off his filthy clothes!" Then He said to him, "See, I have removed your guilt from you,^(g) and I will clothe you with splendid robes."

Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban^(h) on his head." So a clean turban was placed on his head, and they clothed him in garments while the Angel of the Lord was standing nearby.

Then the Angel of the Lord charged Joshua:

"This is what the Lord of Hosts says: If you walk in My ways and keep My instructions, you will both rule My house and take care of My courts; I will also grant you access among these who are standing here.

"Listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your colleagues sitting before you; indeed, these men are a sign that I am about to bring My servant, the Branch.⁽ⁱ⁾

Notice the stone^(j) I have set before Joshua; on that one stone are seven eyes.^(k) I will engrave an inscription on it"—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—"and I will take away the guilt of this land in a single day.

On that day, each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree."^(l) This is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

The angel who was speaking with me then returned and roused me as one awakened out of sleep.

He asked me, "What do you see?" I replied, "I see a solid gold lampstand there with a bowl on its top. It has seven lamps on it and seven channels for each of^[a] the lamps on its top.

There are also two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."

Then I asked the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these, my lord?"

"Don't you know what they are?" replied the angel who was speaking with me. I said, "No, my lord."

So he answered me, "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit,'^(a) says the Lord of Hosts.

‘What are you, great mountain?^(b) Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain.^(c) And he will bring out the capstone accompanied by shouts of: Grace, grace to it!'"

Then the word of the Lord came to me:^(d)

"Zerubbabel's hands have laid the foundation of this house,^(e) and his hands will complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me to you.

For who scorns the day of small things?^(f) These seven eyes of the Lord , which scan throughout the whole earth, will rejoice when they see the plumb line^[b] in Zerubbabel's hand."^(g)

I asked him, "What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?"

And I questioned him further, "What are the two olive branches beside the two gold conduits, from which golden oil pours out?"

Then he inquired of me, "Don't you know what these are?" "No, my lord," I replied.

"These are the two anointed ones,"^[c](h) he said, "who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."⁽ⁱ⁾

I looked up again and saw a flying scroll.^(a)

"What do you see?" he asked me. "I see a flying scroll," I replied, "30 feet^[a] long and 15 feet^[b] wide."^(b)

Then he said to me, "This is the curse^(c) that is going out over the whole land, for every thief will be removed according to what is written on one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be removed according to what is written on the other side.

I will send it out,"^(d)—this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts—"and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It will stay inside his house and destroy it along with its timbers and stones."^(e)

Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, "Look up and see what this is that is approaching."

So I asked, "What is it?" He responded, "It's a measuring basket^[c] that is approaching." And he continued, "This is their iniquity^[d] in all the land."

Then a lead cover was lifted, and there was a woman^(f) sitting inside the basket.^(g)

"This is Wickedness," he said. He shoved her down into the basket and pushed the lead weight over its opening.

Then I looked up and saw two women approaching with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork,^(h) and they lifted up the basket between earth and sky.

So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, "Where are they taking the basket?"

"To build a shrine for it in the land of Shinar,"⁽ⁱ⁾ he told me. "When that is ready, the basket will be placed there on its pedestal."

Then I looked up again and saw four chariots coming from between two mountains. And the mountains were made of bronze.

The first chariot had red horses,^(a) the second chariot black horses,^(b)

the third chariot white horses,^(c) and the fourth chariot dappled^(d) horses—all strong horses.

So I inquired of the angel who was speaking with me, "What are these, my lord?"

The angel told me, "These are the four spirits^[a](e) of heaven going out after presenting themselves to the Lord of the whole earth.

The one with the black horses is going to the land of the north, the white horses are going after them, but the dappled horses are going to the land of the south."

As the strong horses went out, they wanted to go patrol the earth, and the Lord said, "Go, patrol the earth." So they patrolled the earth.

Then He summoned me saying, "See, those going to the land of the north have pacified My Spirit in the northern land."

The word of the Lord came to me:^(f)

"Take an offering from the exiles, from Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon, and go that same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah.

Take silver and gold, make crowns and place them on the head of Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest.

You are to tell him: This is what the Lord of Hosts says: Here is a man whose name is Branch;^(g) He will branch out from His place and build the Lord 's temple.

Yes, He will build the Lord 's temple; He will be clothed in splendor^(h) and will sit on His throne and rule. There will also be a priest on His throne, and there will be peaceful counsel between the two of them.⁽ⁱ⁾

The crown will reside in the Lord 's temple as a memorial to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah, and Hen^[b] son of Zephaniah.

People who are far off will come and build the Lord 's temple, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. This will happen when you fully obey the Lord your God."^(j)

In the fourth year of King Darius,^(a) the word of the Lord came to Zechariah on the fourth day of the ninth month, which is Chislev.

Now the people of Bethel had sent Sharezer, Regem-melech, and their men to plead for the Lord 's favor^(b)

by asking the priests who were at the house of the Lord of Hosts as well as the prophets, "Should we mourn and fast in the fifth month as we have done these many years?"

Then the word of the Lord of Hosts came to me:

"Ask all the people of the land and the priests: When you fasted and lamented in the fifth and in the seventh months for these 70 years, did you really fast for Me?^(c)

When you eat and drink, don't you eat and drink simply for yourselves?^(d)

Aren't these the words that the Lord proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem was inhabited and secure,^[a] along with its surrounding cities, and when the southern region and the Judean foothills were inhabited?"

The word of the Lord came to Zechariah:

"The Lord of Hosts says this: Make fair decisions.^(e) Show faithful love and compassion^(f) to one another.

Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor,^(g) and do not plot evil in your hearts against one another.^(h)

But they refused to pay attention⁽ⁱ⁾ and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear.^(j)

They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the Lord of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets.^(k) Therefore great anger came from the Lord of Hosts.

Just as He had called, and they would not listen, so when they called, I would not listen," says the Lord of Hosts.

"I scattered them with a windstorm over all the nations that had not known them, and the land was left desolate behind them, with no one coming or going. They turned a pleasant land into a desolation."