Study Desk

A Call to Return to the Lord

In the eighth month of the second year of Darius,^(a) the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah^(b) son of Berekiah,^(c) the son of Iddo:^(d)

"The Lord was very angry^(e) with your ancestors.

Therefore tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return^(f) to me,' declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,'^(g) says the Lord Almighty.

Do not be like your ancestors,^(h) to whom the earlier prophets⁽ⁱ⁾ proclaimed: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Turn from your evil ways^(j) and your evil practices.' But they would not listen or pay attention to me,^(k) declares the Lord .^(l)

Where are your ancestors now? And the prophets, do they live forever?

But did not my words^(m) and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your ancestors?⁽ⁿ⁾ "Then they repented and said, ‘The Lord Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve,^(o) just as he determined to do.'"^(p)

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 Berekiah, the son of Iddo.^(q)

During the night I had a vision, and there before me was a man mounted on a red^(r) horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.^(s)

I asked, "What are these, my lord?" The angel^(t) who was talking with me answered, "I will show you what they are."^(u)

Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the Lord has sent to go throughout the earth."^(v)

And they reported to the angel of the Lord ^(w) who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace."^(x)