Day 331 of 365

¹In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

²"The Lord was very displeased with your fathers.

³Therefore tell 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.

⁴Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says the Lord of hosts, 'Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;' but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says the Lord.

⁵Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

⁶But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did not they overtake your fathers? "Then they repented and said, 'Just as the Lord of hosts determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.'"

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

⁸"I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses.

⁹Then I asked, 'My lord, what are these?'" The angel who talked with me said to me, "I will show you what these are."

¹⁰The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, "They are the ones the Lord has sent to go back and forth through the earth."

¹¹They reported to the angel of the Lord who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, "We have walked back and forth through the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace."

¹²Then the angel of the Lord replied, "O Lord of hosts, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?"

¹³The Lord answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words.

¹⁴So the angel who talked with me said to me, "Proclaim, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy.

¹⁵I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but only a little angry, but they added to the calamity."

¹⁶Therefore thus says the Lord: "I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it," says the Lord of hosts, "and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem."'

¹⁷"Proclaim further, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts: "My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion, and will again choose Jerusalem."'"

¹⁸I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four horns.

¹⁹I asked the angel who talked with me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem."

²⁰The Lord showed me four craftsmen.

²¹Then I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He said, "These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it."

¹I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.

²Then I asked, "Where are you going?" He said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its breadth and what is its length."

³Behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him,

⁴and said to him, "Run, speak to this young man, saying, 'Jerusalem will be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of men and livestock in it.

⁵For I,' says the Lord, 'will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the midst of her.

⁶Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,' says the Lord; 'for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the sky,' says the Lord.

⁷'Come, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.'

⁸For thus says the Lord of hosts: 'For honor he has sent me to the nations which plundered you; for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

⁹For, behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they will be a spoil to those who served them; and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.

¹⁰Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of you,' says the Lord.

¹¹Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in the midst of you, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

¹²The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.

¹³Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!"

¹He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary.

²The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Yes, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn't this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?"

³Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel.

⁴He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, "Take the filthy garments off of him." To him he said, "Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing."

⁵I said, "Let them set a clean turban on his head." So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and the angel of the Lord was standing by.

⁶The angel of the Lord protested to Joshua, saying,

⁷"Thus says the Lord of hosts: 'If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by.

⁸Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch.

⁹For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave its engraving,' says the Lord of hosts, 'and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

¹⁰In that day,' says the Lord of hosts, 'you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.'"

¹In you, Lord, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness.

²Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me.

³For you are my rock and my fortress, therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me.

⁴Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for you are my stronghold.

⁵Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Lord, God of truth.

⁶I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord.

⁷I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.

⁸You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

¹²I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.

¹³For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, Lord. I said, "You are my God."

¹⁵My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

¹⁶Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness.

¹⁷Let me not be disappointed, Lord, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol.

¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!

²⁰In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

²¹Praise be to the Lord, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

²²As for me, I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before your eyes." Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

²³Oh love the Lord, all you his holy ones! The Lord preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.

¹The king's heart is in the Lord's hand like the watercourses. He turns it wherever he desires.

²Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the hearts.

³To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.

⁴A high look, and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, is sin.

⁵The plans of the diligent surely lead to profit; and everyone who is hasty surely rushes to poverty.

⁶Getting treasures by a lying tongue is a fleeting vapor for those who seek death.

⁷The violence of the wicked will drive them away, because they refuse to do what is right.

⁸The way of the guilty is devious, but the conduct of the innocent is upright.

⁹It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop, than to share a house with a contentious woman.

¹⁰The soul of the wicked desires evil; his neighbor finds no mercy in his eyes.

¹¹When the mocker is punished, the simple gains wisdom. When the wise is instructed, he receives knowledge.

¹²The Righteous One considers the house of the wicked, and brings the wicked to ruin.

¹³Whoever stops his ears at the cry of the poor, he will also cry out, but shall not be heard.

¹⁴A gift in secret pacifies anger; and a bribe in the cloak, strong wrath.

¹⁵It is joy to the righteous to do justice; but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

¹⁶The man who wanders out of the way of understanding shall rest in the assembly of the dead.

¹⁷He who loves pleasure shall be a poor man. He who loves wine and oil shall not be rich.

¹⁸The wicked is a ransom for the righteous; the treacherous for the upright.

¹⁹It is better to dwell in a desert land, than with a contentious and fretful woman.

²⁰There is precious treasure and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man swallows it up.

²¹He who follows after righteousness and kindness finds life, righteousness, and honor.

²²A wise man scales the city of the mighty, and brings down the strength of its confidence.

²³Whoever guards his mouth and his tongue keeps his soul from troubles.

²⁴The proud and haughty man, "scoffer" is his name; he works in the arrogance of pride.

²⁵The desire of the sluggard kills him, for his hands refuse to labor.

²⁶There are those who covet greedily all day long; but the righteous give and do not withhold.

²⁷The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination: how much more, when he brings it with a wicked mind!

²⁸A false witness will perish, and a man who listens speaks to eternity.

²⁹A wicked man hardens his face; but as for the upright, he establishes his ways.

³⁰There is no wisdom nor understanding nor counsel against the Lord.

³¹The horse is prepared for the day of battle; but victory is with the Lord.