The Crown, the Shepherd, and the Coming King
World English Bible Classic (WEB)
Zechariah 6
1 Again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, four chariots came out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of bronze.
2 In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses;
3 in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful.
4 Then I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 The angel answered me, “These are the four winds of the sky, which go out from standing before the Lord of all the earth.
6 The one with the black horses goes out toward the north country; and the white went out after them; and the dappled went out toward the south country.”
7 The strong went out, and sought to go that they might walk back and forth through the earth. He said, “Go around and through the earth!” So they walked back and forth through the earth.
8 Then he called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “Behold, those who go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”
9 The LORD’s word came to me, saying,
10 “Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah; and you come the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, where they have come from Babylon.
11 Yes, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;
12 and speak to him, saying, ‘The LORD of Armies says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: and he will grow up out of his place; and he will build the LORD’s temple;
13 even he will build the LORD’s temple; and he will bear the glory, and will sit and rule on his throne; and he will be a priest on his throne; and the counsel of peace will be between them both.
14 The crowns will be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the LORD’s temple.
15 Those who are far off will come and build in the LORD’s temple; and you will know that the LORD of Armies has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey the LORD your God’s voice.”’”
Zechariah 7
1 In the fourth year of king Darius, the LORD’s word came to Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Chislev.
2 The people of Bethel sent Sharezer and Regem Melech, and their men, to entreat the LORD’s favor,
3 and to speak to the priests of the house of the LORD of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”
4 Then the word of the LORD of Armies came to me, saying,
5 “Speak to all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and in the seventh month, even these seventy years, did you at all fast to me, really to me?
6 When you eat, and when you drink, don’t you eat for yourselves, and drink for yourselves?
7 Aren’t these the words which the LORD proclaimed by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and its cities around her, and the South and the lowland were inhabited?’”
8 The LORD’s word came to Zechariah, saying,
9 “The LORD of Armies says: ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother.
10 Don’t oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.’
11 But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear.
12 Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of Armies had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Armies.
13 It has come to pass that, as he called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,” said the LORD of Armies;
14 “but I will scatter them with a whirlwind among all the nations which they have not known. Thus the land was desolate after them, so that no man passed through or returned: for they laid the pleasant land desolate.”
Zechariah 8
1 The word of the LORD of Armies came to me.
2 The LORD of Armies says: “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy, and I am jealous for her with great wrath.”
3 The LORD says: “I have returned to Zion, and will dwell in the middle of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called ‘The City of Truth;’ and the mountain of the LORD of Armies, ‘The Holy Mountain.’”
4 The LORD of Armies says: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for very age.
5 The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
6 The LORD of Armies says: “If it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my eyes?” says the LORD of Armies.
7 The LORD of Armies says: “Behold, I will save my people from the east country, and from the west country;
8 and I will bring them, and they will dwell in the middle of Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”
9 The LORD of Armies says: “Let your hands be strong, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets who were in the day that the foundation of the house of the LORD of Armies was laid, even the temple, that it might be built.
10 For before those days there was no wage for man, nor any wage for animal; neither was there any peace to him who went out or came in because of the adversary: for I set all men everyone against his neighbor.
11 But now I will not be to the remnant of this people as in the former days,” says the LORD of Armies.
12 “For there will be the seed of peace. The vine will give its fruit, and the ground will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things.
13 It will happen that, as you were a curse among the nations, house of Judah and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you will be a blessing. Don’t be afraid. Let your hands be strong.”
14 For the LORD of Armies says: “As I thought to do evil to you, when your fathers provoked me to wrath,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I didn’t repent;
15 so again have I thought in these days to do good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah. Don’t be afraid.
16 These are the things that you shall do: Speak every man the truth with his neighbor. Execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates,
17 and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbor, and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate,” says the LORD.
18 The word of the LORD of Armies came to me.
19 The LORD of Armies says: “The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh, and tenth months will be for the house of Judah joy, gladness, and cheerful feasts. Therefore love truth and peace.”
20 The LORD of Armies says: “Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come;
21 and the inhabitants of one city will go to another, saying, ‘Let’s go speedily to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of Armies. I will go also.’
22 Yes, many peoples and strong nations will come to seek the LORD of Armies in Jerusalem, and to entreat the favor of the LORD.”
23 The LORD of Armies says: “In those days, ten men will take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, of the skirt of him who is a Jew, saying, ‘We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.’”
Zechariah 9
1 An oracle. The LORD’s word is against the land of Hadrach, and will rest upon Damascus; for the eye of man and of all the tribes of Israel is toward the LORD;
2 and Hamath, also, which borders on it; Tyre and Sidon, because they are very wise.
3 Tyre built herself a stronghold, and heaped up silver as the dust, and fine gold as the mire of the streets.
4 Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.
5 Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; and Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.
6 Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a governor in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.
8 I will encamp around my house against the army, that no one pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them any more: for now I have seen with my eyes.
9 Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.
11 As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.
12 Turn to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope! Even today I declare that I will restore double to you.
13 For I have bent Judah for me. I have filled the bow with Ephraim; and I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and will make you like the sword of a mighty man.
14 The LORD will be seen over them; and his arrow will go forth like lightning; and the Lord GOD will blow the trumpet, and will go with whirlwinds of the south.
15 The LORD of Armies will defend them; and they will destroy and overcome with sling stones; and they will drink, and roar as through wine; and they will be filled like bowls, like the corners of the altar.
16 The LORD their God will save them in that day as the flock of his people; for they are like the jewels of a crown, lifted on high over his land.
17 For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.
Zechariah 10
1 Ask of the LORD rain in the time of the spring rain, even of the LORD who makes lightnings; and he will give them showers of rain, to everyone grass in the field.
2 For the teraphim have spoken vanity, and the diviners have seen a lie; and they have told false dreams. They comfort in vain. Therefore they go their way like sheep. They are oppressed, because there is no shepherd.
3 My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; for the LORD of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle.
4 From him will come the cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together.
5 They will be as mighty men, treading down muddy streets in the battle. They will fight, because the LORD is with them; and the riders on horses will be confounded.
6 “I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them back; for I have mercy on them; and they will be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and I will hear them.
7 Ephraim will be like a mighty man, and their heart will rejoice as through wine. Yes, their children will see it, and rejoice. Their heart will be glad in the LORD.
8 I will signal for them, and gather them; for I have redeemed them; and they will increase as they have increased.
9 I will sow them among the peoples; and they will remember me in far countries; and they will live with their children, and will return.
10 I will bring them again also out of the land of Egypt, and gather them out of Assyria; and I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon; and there won’t be room enough for them.
11 He will pass through the sea of affliction, and will strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of the Nile will dry up; and the pride of Assyria will be brought down, and the scepter of Egypt will depart.
12 I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they will walk in his name,” says the LORD.
