A Call to Repentance (Jeremiah 3:11–25; Hosea 14:1–3)
1 AKJV In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, BSB BSB: In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying:
2 AKJV The LORD has been sore displeased with your fathers. BSB BSB: “The LORD was very angry with your fathers.
3 AKJV Therefore say you to them, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Turn you to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will turn to you, says the LORD of hosts. BSB BSB: So tell the people that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Return to Me, declares the LORD of Hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of Hosts.’
4 AKJV Be you not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; Turn you now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says the LORD. BSB BSB: Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Turn now from your evil ways and deeds.’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me, declares the LORD.
5 AKJV Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? BSB BSB: Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?
6 AKJV But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so has he dealt with us. BSB BSB: But did not My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, overtake your fathers? They repented and said, ‘Just as the LORD of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and deeds, so He has done to us.’”
The Vision of the Horses 7 AKJV On the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD to Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, BSB BSB: 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, the son of Iddo.
8 AKJV I saw by night, and behold a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. BSB BSB: I looked out into the night and saw a man riding on a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in the hollow, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.
9 AKJV Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said to me, I will show you what these be. BSB BSB: “What are these, my lord?” I asked. And the angel who was speaking with me replied, “I will show you what they are.”
10 AKJV And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD has sent to walk to and fro through the earth. BSB BSB: Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
11 AKJV And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sits still, and is at rest. BSB BSB: And the riders answered the angel of the LORD who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is at rest and tranquil.”
12 AKJV Then the angel of the LORD answered and said, 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 three score and ten years? BSB BSB: Then the angel of the LORD said, “How long, O LORD of Hosts, will You withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been angry these seventy years?”
13 AKJV And the LORD answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. BSB BSB: So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.
14 AKJV So the angel that communed with me said to me, Cry you, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. BSB BSB: Then the angel who was speaking with me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion,
15 AKJV And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. BSB BSB: but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’
16 AKJV Therefore thus says the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, says the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth on Jerusalem. BSB BSB: Therefore this is what the LORD says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there My house will be rebuilt, declares the LORD of Hosts, and a measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.’
17 AKJV Cry yet, saying, Thus says the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. BSB BSB: Proclaim further that this is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”
The Vision of the Horns and the Craftsmen 18 AKJV Then lifted I up my eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. BSB BSB: Then I looked up and saw four horns.
19 AKJV And I said to the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. BSB BSB: So I asked the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he told me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.”
20 AKJV And the LORD showed me four carpenters. BSB BSB: Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
21 AKJV Then said I, What come these to do? And he spoke, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it. BSB BSB: “What are these coming to do?” I asked. And He replied, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head; but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations that have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter it.”