A Call to Repentance (Jeremiah 3:11–25; Hosea 14:1–3)
1 UDB When Darius had been the emperor of Persia for two years, in the eighth month his reign, Yahweh gave Zechariah the prophet, son of Berekiah and grandson of Iddo the prophet, this message: 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 UDB "I was very angry with your ancestors. BSB BSB: “The LORD was very angry with your fathers.
3 UDB So tell this to the people: Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says this: 'Return to me, and if you do that, I will help you again. 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 UDB Do not be like your ancestors. Prophets, who have now died, continually proclaimed to your ancestors that they should stop doing the evil things that they were always doing. But they refused to pay attention to what I said. 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 UDB Your ancestors have died and are now in their graves. Even the prophets did not live forever either. BSB BSB: Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?
6 UDB But the commands and the decrees that I had instructed my servants the prophets to tell them—your ancestors did not obey them, so I punished them. So then they repented and said that I, Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, had done to them what they deserved for their evil behavior, just like I had said I would do.'" 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 UDB On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Yahweh gave another message to me. 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 UDB During the night I had a vision. In the vision I saw an angel who was on a red horse. He was in a narrow valley among some myrtle trees. Behind him were angels on other horses—red, reddish-brown, and white horses. 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 UDB I asked the angel who had been talking to me, "Sir, who are those angels on the horses?" He replied, "I will show you who they are." 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 UDB Then the angel who had stopped under the myrtle trees explained. He said, "They are the angels whom Yahweh has sent to patrol the entire world." BSB BSB: Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, “They are the ones the LORD has sent to patrol the earth.”
11 UDB Then those angels reported to the angel of Yahweh who was under the myrtle trees, "We have traveled throughout the world, and we have found out that the army of the emperor has conquered nations throughout the world, and that they are now helpless and inactive." 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 UDB Then the angel asked, "Yahweh, Commander of the angel armies, how long will you continue to not act mercifully toward Jerusalem and the other towns in Judah? You have been angry with them for seventy 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 UDB So Yahweh spoke kindly to the angel who had talked to me, saying things that comforted him. BSB BSB: So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.
14 UDB Then the angel who had been talking with me said to me, "Proclaim this to the people of Jerusalem: Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, says that he is very concerned about the people who live on Mount Zion and in the other parts of Jerusalem. 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 UDB And he is very angry with the nations that are proud and feel safe. He was only a little bit angry with Judah, but they caused them to suffer much more. 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 UDB Therefore, he says that he will go back to Jerusalem and help the people. It will be as if he himself had surveyed and measured all the land in the city. 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 UDB Yahweh, commander of the angel armies, also said to tell people in his cities in Judah that they will soon be very prosperous again. He will encourage the people of Jerusalem again, and he will again choose Jerusalem as his special city." 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 UDB Then I looked up and saw four animal horns in front of me. BSB BSB: Then I looked up and saw four horns.
19 UDB I asked the angel who had been speaking to me, "What are those horns?" He replied, "Those horns represent the nations that forced the people of Jerusalem and other places in Judah and Israel to go to other countries." 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 UDB Then Yahweh showed me four blacksmiths. BSB BSB: Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
21 UDB I asked, "What are those men coming to do?" He replied, "The nations that those horns represent scattered the people of Judah, so they suffered greatly. But these blacksmiths are coming to frighten and destroy those nations and to throw down their horns, their power—all those nations who had attacked the land of Judah." 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.”