1 In the eighth month of the second year of Dareyawesh, the word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 came to Zeḵaryah son of Bereḵyah, son of Iddo the naḇi, saying,
2 “𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 was very wroth with your fathers.
3 “And you shall say to them, ‘Thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, “Turn back to Me,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, “and I shall turn back to you,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts.
4 “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former neḇi’im proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, “Turn back now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not obey or give heed to Me,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.
5 “Your fathers, where are they? And the neḇi’im, do they live forever?
6 “But My Words and My Laws, which I commanded My servants the neḇi’im, did they not overtake your fathers?” “Then they turned back and said, ‘As 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts planned to do to us, according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He has done with us.’ ” ’ ”
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sheḇat, in the second year of Dareyawesh, the word 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of came to Zeḵaryah son of Bereḵyahu, son of Iddo the naḇi, saying,
8 “I looked at night and saw a man riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees in the shade. And behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white.”
9 And I said, “My master, what are these?” And the messenger who was speaking to me said to me, “Let me show you what they are.”
10 And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “They are the ones 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has sent to go throughout the earth.”
11 And they answered the messenger of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have gone throughout the earth, and see, all the earth is at peace and rest.”
12 And the messenger of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 answered and said, “O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, how long would You have no compassion on Yerushalayim and on the cities of Yahuḏah, against which You were enraged these seventy years?”
13 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 answered the messenger who talked to me, good words, comforting words.
14 And the messenger who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, “I have been jealous for Yerushalayim and for Tsiyon with great jealousy.
15 “And I am very wroth with the nations who are at ease, for when I was a little wroth, they furthered the evil!”
16 ‘Therefore thus said 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, “I shall return to Yerushalayim with compassion. My house shall be built in it,” declares 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 of hosts, “and a surveyor’s line be stretched out over Yerushalayim.” ’
17 “Again proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 hosts, “Again My cities shall overflow with goodness. And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall again comfort Tsiyon, and shall again choose Yerushalayim.” ’ ”
18 And I lifted up my eyes and looked, and saw four horns.
19 And I said to the messenger who was speaking to me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Yahuḏah, Yisra’ĕl, and Yerushalayim.”
20 And 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 showed me four craftsmen.
21 And I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he spoke saying, “These are the horns that scattered Yahuḏah, so that no one lifted up his head. But these come to trouble them, to throw down the horns of the gentiles that lifted up their horn against the land of Yahuḏah to scatter it.”