Zech 1
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IN THE eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto
Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:
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'The LORD hath been sore displeased with your fathers.
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Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts: Return unto Me, saith
the LORD of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith the LORD of hosts.
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Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus
saith the LORD of hosts: Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;
but they did not hear, nor attend unto Me, saith the LORD.
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Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever?
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But My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they
not overtake your fathers? so that they turned and said: Like as the LORD of hosts
purposed to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath
He dealt with us.'
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Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat,
in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah the son of
Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying--
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I saw in the night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the
myrtle-trees that were in the bottom; and behind him there were horses, red, sorrel,
and white.
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Then said I: 'O my lord, what are these?' And the angel that spoke with me said unto
me: 'I will show thee what these are.'
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And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said: 'These are they whom
the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.'
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And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said:
'We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still,
and is at rest.'
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Then the angel of the LORD spoke and said: 'O LORD of hosts, how long wilt Thou not
have compassion on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which Thou hast had
indignation these threescore and ten years?
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And the LORD answered the angel that spoke with me with good words, even comforting
words--
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so the angel that spoke with me said unto me: 'Proclaim thou, saying: Thus saith the
LORD of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy;
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and I am very sore displeased with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little
displeased, and they helped for evil.
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Therefore thus saith the LORD: I return to Jerusalem with compassions: My house shall
be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over
Jerusalem.
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Again, proclaim, saying: Thus saith the LORD of hosts: My cities shall again overflow
with prosperity; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.'
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And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.
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And I said unto the angel that spoke with me: 'What are these?' And he said unto me:
'These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.'
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And the LORD showed me four craftsmen.
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Then said I: 'What come these to do?' And he spoke, saying: 'These--the horns which
scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head--these then are come to frighten
them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the
land of Judah to scatter it.'