The Lord Wants His People to Return to Him
1A message from the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah. Berekiah was the son of Iddo. It was the eighth month of the second year that Darius was king of Persia. Here is what Zechariah said.
2The Lord who rules over all was very angry with your people of long ago. 3And now he says to us, “Return to me. Then I will return to you,” announces the Lord. 4“Do not be like your people of long ago. The earlier prophets gave them my message. I said, ‘Stop doing what is evil. Turn away from your sinful practices.’ But they would not listen to me. They would not pay any attention,” announces the Lord. 5“Where are those people now? And what about my prophets? Do they live forever? 6I commanded my servants the prophets what to say. I told them what I planned to do. But your people refused to obey me. So I had to punish them.
“Then they had a change of heart. They said, ‘The Lord who rules over all has punished us because of how we have lived. He was fair and right to do that. He has done to us just what he decided to do.’ ”
A Vision of a Horseman Among Some Myrtle Trees
7A message from the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah. Berekiah was the son of Iddo. The message came during the second year that Darius was king. It was the 24th day of the 11th month. That’s the month of Shebat.
8I had a vision at night. I saw a man sitting on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a valley. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
9An angel was talking with me. I asked him, “Sir, what are these?”
He answered, “I will show you what they are.”
10Then the man standing among the myrtle trees spoke. He said, “They are the messengers the Lord has sent out. He told them to go all through the earth.”
11They brought a report to the angel of the Lord. He was standing among the myrtle trees. They said to him, “We have gone all through the earth. We’ve found the whole world enjoying peace and rest.”
12Then the angel of the Lord spoke up. He said, “Lord, you rule over all. How long will you keep from showing your tender love to Jerusalem? How long will you keep it from the towns of Judah? You have been angry with them for 70 years.” 13So the Lord replied with kind and comforting words. He spoke them to the angel who talked with me.
14Then the angel said, “Announce this message. Say, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “I am very jealous for my people in Jerusalem and Zion. 15And I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry with my people. But the nations went too far and tried to wipe them out.”
16“ ‘So the Lord says, “I will return to Jerusalem. I will show its people my tender love. My temple will be rebuilt there. Workers will use a measuring line when they rebuild Jerusalem,” announces the Lord.
17“ ‘He says, “My towns will be filled with good things once more. I will comfort Zion. And I will choose Jerusalem again.” ’ ”
A Vision of Four Horns and Four Skilled Workers
18Then I looked up and saw four animal horns. 19I spoke to the angel who was talking with me. “What are these horns?” I asked.
He said, “They are the powerful nations that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”
20Then the Lord showed me four skilled workers. 21I asked, “What are they coming to do?”
He answered, “The horns are the powerful nations that scattered the people of Judah. That made Judah helpless. But these four skilled workers have come to terrify the horns. The workers will destroy the power of those nations. Those nations had used their power to scatter Judah’s people.”
呼喚人民歸向耶和華
1大流士王二年八月，耶和華對易多的孫子、比利迦的兒子撒迦利亞先知說： 2「耶和華曾對你們的祖先大發怒氣。 3因此，你要告訴百姓，萬軍之耶和華說，『你們要歸向我，我就回到你們那裡。這是萬軍之耶和華說的。 4不要像你們的祖先一樣。以前的先知曾呼喚他們要聽從萬軍之耶和華的話，改邪歸正，停止作惡，他們卻置若罔聞，不予理會。這是耶和華說的。 5現在你們的祖先在哪裡呢？那些先知能活到永遠嗎？ 6然而，我吩咐我僕人——眾先知的訓言和律例豈不應驗在你們祖先的頭上了嗎？後來他們悔改了，說，萬軍之耶和華按著我們的所作所為報應了我們，正如祂所言。』」
有關騎士的異象
7大流士王二年十一月，即細罷特月二十四日，耶和華的話傳給了易多的孫子、比利迦的兒子撒迦利亞先知。 8我在夜間看到異象，見有人騎著一匹紅馬，站在谷中的番石榴樹林間，後面有紅馬、棕馬和白馬騎士。 9我就問：「主啊，這是什麼意思？」那位跟我說話的天使說：「我會告訴你這是什麼意思。」 10站在番石榴樹林間的那位對我說：「這些是耶和華派來巡視大地的。」 11其他騎士向站在番石榴樹林間的那位耶和華的天使報告說：「我們已經巡視了大地，到處都安寧平靜。」
12耶和華的天使說：「萬軍之耶和華啊，你向耶路撒冷和猶大的城邑發怒已經七十年了，還要多久你才會憐憫他們呢？」 13耶和華用仁慈、安慰的話回答那位與我說話的天使。
14那位天使對我說：「你要宣告，萬軍之耶和華說，『我對耶路撒冷，對錫安充滿了火熱的愛。 15我對安逸的列國充滿憤怒，因為我只是對我的子民稍微不滿，列國卻大肆禍害他們。』 16因此，耶和華說，『我必懷著憐憫的心回到耶路撒冷，我的殿必在那裡重建，必有準繩丈量耶路撒冷。這是萬軍之耶和華說的。』 17你還要宣告，萬軍之耶和華說，『我的城邑必再次繁榮昌盛，耶和華必再次安慰錫安，揀選耶路撒冷。』」
有關角和工匠的異象
18我又舉目觀看，見有四個角。 19於是，我問與我說話的天使：「這是什麼？」他回答說：「這些是驅散猶大、以色列和耶路撒冷的角。」 20耶和華又讓我看見四個工匠。 21於是我問：「他們來做什麼？」他說：「這些角驅散了猶大，以致無人能抬頭，但這些工匠是來威嚇列國，並打掉他們用來攻擊和驅散猶大的角。」
