great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’ ”
8 Moreover the LORD’s word came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you. 10 Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are the LORD’s eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”
11 Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on the left side of it?”
12 I asked him the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”
13 He answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?”
I said, “No, my lord.”
14 Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord† of the whole earth.”
5
1 Then again I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. 2 He said to me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits,† and its width ten cubits.”
3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land, for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side. 4 I will cause it to go out,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”
5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is that is appearing.”
6 I said, “What is it?”
He said, “This is the efah‡ basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land— 7 and behold, a lead cover weighing one talent§ was lifted up—and there was a woman sitting in the middle of the efah† basket.” 8 He said, “This is Wickedness;” and he threw her down into the middle of the efah basket; and he threw the lead weight on its mouth.
9 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were two women; and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the efah basket between earth and the sky. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are these carrying the efah basket?”
11 He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”
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 were black horses. 3 In the third chariot were white horses. In the fourth chariot were 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 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 Hosts says, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch! He will grow up out of his place; and he will build the LORD’s temple. 13 He will build the LORD’s temple. He will bear the glory, and will sit and rule on his throne. He will be a priest on his throne. The counsel of peace will be between them both. 14 The crowns shall be to Helem, to Tobijah, to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the LORD’s temple.
15 Those who are far off shall come and build in the LORD’s temple; and you shall know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you. This will happen, if you will diligently obey the LORD your God’s voice.” ’ ”†
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 Hosts 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 Hosts 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 for 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 “Thus has the LORD of Hosts spoken, saying, ‘Execute true judgment, and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. 10 Don’t oppress the widow, 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 might hear the law and the words which the LORD of Hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the LORD of Hosts. 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 Hosts; 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 nor returned; for they made the pleasant land desolate.”
8
1 The word of the LORD of Hosts came to me. 2 The LORD of Hosts 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 shall be called ‘The City of Truth;’ and the mountain of the LORD of Hosts, ‘The Holy Mountain.’ ”
4 The LORD of Hosts says: “Old men and old women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand because of their old age. 5 The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”
6 The LORD of Hosts 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 Hosts.
7 The LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country. 8 I will bring them, and they will dwell within Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.”
9 The LORD of Hosts 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 Hosts was laid, even the temple, that it might be built. 10 For before those days there was no wages for man nor any wages for an 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 Hosts. 12 “For the seed