The Vision of the Horsemen

Late 6th–4th Century BCE

¹In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, this word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo:^a ²The Lord was very angry with your fathers. ³Say to them further:

Thus said the Lord of Hosts: Turn back to me—says the Lord of Hosts—and I will turn back to you—said the Lord of Hosts. ⁴Do not be like your fathers! For when the earlier prophets called to them, “Thus said the Lord of Hosts: Come, turn back from your evil ways and your evil deeds, they did not obey or give heed to Me—declares the Lord. ⁵Where are your fathers now? And did the prophets live forever? ⁶But the warnings and the decrees with which I charged My servants the prophets overtook your fathers—did they not?—and in the end they had to admit, ‘The Lord has dealt with us according to our ways and our deeds, just as He purposed.’”

⁷On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month of the second year of Darius—the month of Shebat—this word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo:

⁸In the night, I had a vision. I saw a man, mounted on a bay horse, standing ^bamong the myrtles^bin the Deep, and behind him were bay, sorrel, and white horses. ⁹I asked, “What are those, my lord?” And the angel who talked with me answered, “I will let you know what they are.” ¹⁰Then the man who was standing ^bamong the myrtles^bspoke up and said, “These were sent out by the Lord to roam the earth.”

¹¹And in fact, they reported to the angel of the Lord who was standing ^bamong the myrtles,^b“We have roamed the earth, and have found all the earth dwelling in tranquility.”^c ¹²Thereupon the angel of the Lord exclaimed, “O Lord of Hosts! How long will You withhold pardon from Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, which You placed under a curse seventy years ago?”

¹³The Lord replied with kind, comforting words to the angel who talked with me.

¹⁴Then the angel who talked with me said to me: “Proclaim! Thus said the Lord of Hosts: I am very jealous for Jerusalem—for Zion—¹⁵and I am very angry with those nations that are at ease; for I was only angry a little, but they overdid the punishment. ¹⁶Assuredly, thus said the Lord: I graciously return to Jerusalem. My House shall be built in her—declares the Lord of Hosts—the measuring line is being applied to Jerusalem. ¹⁷Proclaim further: Thus said the Lord of Hosts: My towns shall yet overflow with bounty. For the Lord will again comfort Zion; He will choose Jerusalem again.”

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Notes

A clause like “Say to the people” is here understood.

Septuagint reads “between the mountains”; cf. 6:1. In 6:1ff. four teams of horses leave the Lord’s abode to roam the four quarters of the earth; in 1:8ff. they are about to reenter His abode after such a reconnaissance.

Upheavals at the start of Darius’ reign had encouraged hopes of an early restoration of the Davidic dynasty (cf. Hag. 2:21ff.). Now these hopes were dashed.