Zechariah’s Visions

Zechariah had a vision in the night. He saw a man riding a red horse. The man stood among the myrtle trees that grew in a ravine, and behind him there were red, brown and white horses.

“My lord, what are these?” Zechariah asked.

The angel who talked with him answered, “I will show you what these are.”

The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to go back and forth through the earth.”

They reported to the Lord’s angel who stood among the myrtle trees, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and look, the whole earth is quiet and at peace.”

Then the Lord’s angel said, “Lord of Armies, how long will it be before you have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah? You have been angry with them all these seventy years.”

The Lord answered the angel who talked with Zechariah with kind and comforting words.

“Those horns scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem,” the angel answered.

Then the Lord showed Zechariah four craftsmen. “What are these coming to do?” Zechariah asked.

The answer came: “These horns are the ones that scattered Judah, so no one could hold his head up. But these craftsmen have come to terrify them. They have come to throw down the horns of the nations that raised their horns to scatter the land of Judah.”

Then Zechariah looked up and saw a man holding a measuring line. “Where are you going?” Zechariah asked him.

“To measure Jerusalem,” the man said, “to see how wide it is and how long.”

Then the angel who talked with Zechariah went out. Another angel went out to meet him and said to him, “Run and say to this young man: ‘Jerusalem will be lived in like villages that have no walls, because of all the people and livestock in it. The Lord says: I myself will be a wall of fire around the city, and I will be the glory in the middle of it.’”

The Lord said to Satan, “Satan, may the Lord rebuke you! Yes, may the Lord rebuke you, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem! Isn’t this a burning stick pulled out of the fire?”

Jeshua had filthy clothes on, and he was standing in front of the angel. Those who stood there were told, “Take the filthy clothes off him.” And Jeshua was told, “Look, I have taken your sin away from you, and I will dress you in fine clothes.”

Then Zechariah said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.” So they set a clean turban on his head and dressed him. And the Lord’s angel was standing by.

Then the Lord’s angel solemnly told Jeshua, “The Lord of Armies says: ‘If you live by my ways and follow my instructions, then you will also judge my house and guard my courtyards. And I will give you a place to come and go among these who stand by.

“‘Hear now, Jeshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign; for, look, I will bring out my servant, the Branch. For, look, the stone that I have set before Jeshua: on one stone are seven eyes; look, I will engrave its inscription,’ says the Lord of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,’ says the Lord of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

“What do you see?” the angel asked.

“I see a lamp stand made all of gold,” Zechariah said. “It has a bowl on top and seven lamps on it, and each of the lamps on top has seven pipes. Two olive trees stand by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on the left side of it.”

Then Zechariah asked the angel who talked with him, “What are these, my lord?”

“Don’t you know what these are?” the angel answered.

“No, my lord,” said Zechariah.

Then Zechariah asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on its left?”

Then Zechariah asked him a second time, “What are these two olive branches next to the two golden spouts that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”

“Don’t you know what these are?” the angel answered.

“No, my lord,” said Zechariah.

Then the angel said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

“What do you see?” he was asked.

“I see a flying scroll,” Zechariah answered. “It is twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.” A cubit is about a foot and a half, so the scroll was about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.

Then he was told, “This is the curse that goes out over the whole land. By what is written on one side, everyone who steals will be removed. By what is written on the other side, everyone who lies under oath will be removed. I will send it out,” says the Lord of Armies, “and it will go into the house of the thief, and into the house of anyone who swears to a lie by my name. It will stay in the middle of his house and destroy it, its timber and its stones.”

Then the angel who talked with Zechariah came forward and said to him, “Look up now and see what is appearing.”

“What is it?” Zechariah asked.

“This is the ephah basket that is appearing,” the angel said. An ephah was a measure for grain, about six gallons. He went on, “This is what they look like all through the land. And look, a lead cover weighing one talent, about sixty-six pounds, was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah basket.”

“This is Wickedness,” he said, and he threw her down into the basket and threw the lead weight down on top of it.

Then Zechariah looked up and saw two women, and the wind was in their wings. Their wings were like a stork’s wings, and they lifted the ephah basket up between earth and sky.

“Where are they taking the basket?” Zechariah asked the angel who talked with him.

“To build her a house in the land of Shinar,” the angel answered. “When it is ready, she will be set there in her own place.”

Red horses pulled the first chariot, black horses the second, white horses the third, and spotted horses the fourth, all of them powerful.

“What are these, my lord?” Zechariah asked the angel who talked with him.

The angel answered, “These are the four winds of the sky. They have been standing in front of the Lord of all the earth, and they are going out. The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country. The white horses went out after them, and the spotted horses went out toward the south country.”

The strong ones went out, wanting to go back and forth through the earth. The command came: “Go all through the earth!” So they went back and forth through the earth.

Then he called out to Zechariah, “Look, those who are going toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”

“And speak to him, saying, ‘The Lord of Armies says, “Look, the man whose name is the Branch! He will grow up out of his place; and he will build the Lord’s temple. He will build the Lord’s temple. He will bear the glory, and will sit and rule on his throne. He will be a priest on his throne. The counsel of peace will be between them both.

“‘“The crowns will be for Helem, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen son of Zephaniah, to be a memorial in the Lord’s temple. People from far away will come and build in the Lord’s temple, and you will know the Lord of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen if you take care to obey the Lord your God.”’”