Zechariah 6:2

Brenton's Septuagint

In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The first chariot had chestnut horses, the second chariot black horses,

Hebrew Names Version
In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses;

King James Version (1611)
In the first charet were red horses, and in the second charet, blacke horses.

King James Version
In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

English Standard Version
The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,

New American Standard Bible
With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses,

New Century Version
Red horses pulled the first chariot. Black horses pulled the second chariot.

Amplified Bible
The first chariot had red horses (war, bloodshed), the second chariot had black horses (famine, death),

Geneva Bible (1587)
In the first charet were red horses, and in the second charet blacke horses,

New American Standard Bible (1995)
With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses,

Legacy Standard Bible
With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses,

Berean Standard Bible
The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,

Contemporary English Version
The first chariot was pulled by red horses, and the second by black horses;

Complete Jewish Bible
The first chariot had red horses; the second chariot, black horses;

Darby Translation
In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

Easy-to-Read Version
Red horses were pulling the first chariot. Black horses were pulling the second chariot.

George Lamsa Translation
In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses;

Good News Translation
The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black horses,

Lexham English Bible
With the first chariot there were red horses, and with the second chariot there were black horses.

Literal Translation
With the first chariot were red horses, and with the second chariot black horses,

American Standard Version
In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

Bible in Basic English
In the first war-carriage were red horses; and in the second, black horses;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
In the first charret were red horses, in ye seconde charret were blacke horses,

English Revised Version
In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

World English Bible
In the first chariot were red horses; in the second chariot black horses;

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
In the firste foure horsid carte weren reed horsis, and in the secounde foure horsid carte weren blac horsis;

Update Bible Version
In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

Webster's Bible Translation
In the first chariot [were] red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;

New English Translation
Harnessed to the first chariot were red horses, to the second black horses,

New King James Version
With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses,

New Living Translation
The first chariot was pulled by red horses, the second by black horses,

New Life Bible
The first war-wagon had red horses. The second war-wagon had black horses.

New Revised Standard
The first chariot had red horses, the second chariot black horses,

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
In the first chariot, were red horses, - and, in the second chariot, black horses;

Douay-Rheims Bible
In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses.

Revised Standard Version
The first chariot had red horses, the second black horses,

Young's Literal Translation
In the first chariot [are] red horses, and in the second chariot brown horses,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
In the first charet were reade horse, In the secode charet were blacke horse,

THE MESSAGE
The first chariot was drawn by red horses, the second chariot by black horses, the third chariot by white horses, and the fourth chariot by dappled horses. All the horses were powerful.

Contextual Overview

¹ And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, four chariots coming out from between two mountains; and the mountains were brazen mountains. ² In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; ³ and in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot piebald and ash-coloured horses. ⁴ And I answered and said to the angel that talked with me, What are these, my Lord? ⁵ And the angel that talked with me answered and said, These are the four winds of heaven, and they are going forth to stand before the Lord of all the earth. ⁶ As for the chariot in which were the black horses, they went out to the land of the north; and the white went out after them; and the piebald went out to the land of the south. ⁷ And the ash-coloured went out, and looked to go and compass the earth: and he said, Go, and compass the earth. And they compassed the earth. ⁸ And he cried out and spoke to me, saying, Behold, these go out to the land of the north, and they have quieted mine anger in the land of the north.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

red: Zechariah 1:8, Revelation 6:2-5, Revelation 12:3, Revelation 17:3

black: Zechariah 6:6, Revelation 6:5, Revelation 6:6

Reciprocal: Nahum 2:3 - made Revelation 6:4 - horse

Cross-References

Genesis 3:6
For God knew that in whatever day ye should eat of it your eyes would be opened, and ye would be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Genesis 4:26
And Seth had a son, and he called his name Enos: he hoped to call on the name of the Lord God.

Genesis 6:1
And Noe was five hundred years old, and he begot three sons, Sem, Cham, and Japheth.

Genesis 6:2
And it came to pass when men began to be numerous upon the earth, and daughters were born to them,

Genesis 6:3
that the sons of God having seen the daughters of men that they were beautiful, took to themselves wives of all whom they chose.

Genesis 6:4
And the Lord God said, My Spirit shall certainly not remain among these men for ever, because they are flesh, but their days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

Genesis 6:6
And the Lord God, having seen that the wicked actions of men were multiplied upon the earth, and that every one in his heart was intently brooding over evil continually,

Genesis 6:7
then God laid it to heart that he had made man upon the earth, and he pondered it deeply.

Genesis 6:8
And God said, I will blot out man whom I have made from the face of the earth, even man with cattle, and reptiles with flying creatures of the sky, for I am grieved that I have made them.

Genesis 6:12
But the earth was corrupted before God, and the earth was filled with iniquity.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

In the first chariot [were] red horses,.... If these are to be understood of the apostles of Christ, and ministers of the Gospel, they may be compared to "horses", for bearing the name of Christ, and drawing the chariot of the Gospel; for their strength to labour in the word and doctrine; for their courage in the cause of Christ; and for their swiftness in doing his work; and to "red" ones, for their flaming zeal for the honour of the Redeemer, and their bloody sufferings for his sake: and if of angels, they may be compared to "horses", because strong and swift to do the will of God; and to "red" ones, because they are the executioners of his wrath and vengeance on wicked men: but if by "the chariots" are meant the monarchies, then by these "red horses" must be designed the Babylonians and Chaldeans, so called because their soldiers were clothed in red, and their chariots were like flaming torches; and they were sanguinary, cruel, and bloody in their tempers, and in their actions to the Jews; and were signified by Nebuchadnezzar's head of gold in his image; see Nahum 2:3:

and in the second chariot black horses; which, applied to the apostles and ministers of the Gospel, may denote their mean and abject appearance outwardly, and their knowledge in the mysteries of grace, which are dark and obscure to others; and, if understood of angels, is applicable to them, when messengers of ill tidings, or executioners of judgment: but if the monarchies are meant, which seems best, the Medes and Persians are intended; and their "black" colour is expressive of the sorrowful estate of the Jews under them, especially in the time of Haman, as Jarchi and Kimchi observe: black horses were reckoned strong, well made, and fit for labour; and the Ethiopians and Moors chose to have their horses they used in war all of this colour, to strike the greater horror and terror into their enemies; and to see black horses in a dream was accounted a bad omen s. The Medes and Persians were a strong and warlike people, and were very terrible to their enemies, under Cyrus; and very troublesome and distressing to the Jews, under Cambyses and Ahasuerus.

s Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 2. c. 7. col. 106, 107.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The symbol is different from that in the first vision. There Zechariah 1:8, they were horses only, with their riders, to go to and fro to enquire; here they are war-chariots with their horses, to execute God’s judgments, each in their turn. In the first vision also, there is not the characteristic fourfold division, which reminds of the four world-empires of Daniel Daniel 2:0; after which, in both prophets, is the mention of the kingdom of Christ. Even if the grisled horses be the same as the speckled of the first vision, the black horses are wanting there, as well as the succession, in which they go forth. The only resemblance is, that there are horses of divers colors, two of which, red and white, are the same. The symbol of the fourth empire, grizzled, strong, remarkably corresponds with the strength and mingled character of the fourth empire in Daniel.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 6:2. In the first chariot were red horses] The empire of the Chaldeans, which overthrew the empire of the Assyrians.

The second chariot black horses — The empire of the Persians founded by Cyrus, which destroyed the empire of the Chaldeans.