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Zechariah 1

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A Call to Repentance 1–6

1
In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, ​
2
Jehovah was sore displeased with your fathers.
3
Therefore say thou unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. ​
4
Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith Jehovah. ​
5
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? and they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. ​

The First Vision: The Horsemen 7–17

7
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 Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, ​
8
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 talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these are.
10
And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. ​
11
And they answered the angel of Jehovah 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. ​
12
Then the angel of Jehovah answered and said, O Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these threescore and ten years? ​
13
And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me with good words, even comfortable words.
14
So the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry thou, saying, Thus saith Jehovah 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 forward the affliction. ​
16
Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies; my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem. ​
17
Cry yet again, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity; and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

The Second Vision: The Four Horns and Smiths 18–21

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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 talked with me, What are these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.
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And Jehovah showed me four smiths. ​
21
Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head; but these are come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Zechariah 1

Verse 1

Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo — Zekaryah means 'the LORD has remembered'. Iddo is in the priestly list of Neh 12:4, and 'Of Iddo, Zechariah' stands in Neh 12:16; Ezra 5:1 calls him 'the son of Iddo'. This word comes in the eighth month, between Haggai's words of the seventh and ninth months (Hag 2:1, 10), after the work stopped in Ezra 4:24 had begun again.

Verse 3

Turn ye unto me… and I will turn unto you — Shub, to turn or return, is said of both sides: the people turn and the LORD turns. Malachi 3:7 has the same exchange, 'Return unto me, and I will return unto you', and Joel 2:12 asks the turn 'with all your heart'. The title 'LORD of hosts' is spoken three times in this one verse. The verb comes back in vv.4, 6 and 16.

Verse 4

the former prophets — Zechariah later speaks of 'the words which the LORD hath cried by the former prophets' (Zech 7:7, 12). Their cry was Jeremiah's: 'Turn ye again now every one from his evil way, and from the evil of your doings' (Jer 25:5), when 'ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear' (Jer 25:4). 'Be ye not as your fathers' is the warning of Ps 78:8.

Verse 6

did they not take hold of your fathers? — Nasag, to overtake, is the verb of Deut 28:15, where the curses 'shall come upon thee, and overtake thee'. The fathers had been warned in the law and by the prophets, and 'they returned' (shub) in confession: 'so hath he dealt with us'. 'Thought' (zamam) is the word of Lam 2:17, 'The LORD hath done that which he had devised'.

Verse 7

the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat — Shebat is named only here in the Bible. The date is two months after the 'four and twentieth day of the ninth month' of Hag 2:10 and 2:18, in the same second year of Darius as 1:1. After the call to turn (vv.1–6), the book now gives what Zechariah saw, which begins in v.8 with 'I saw by night'.

Verse 8

a man riding upon a red horse — He is 'the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees' (v.11). The myrtle is a tree the LORD plants in the wilderness (Isa 41:19) and one of the branches for the booths (Neh 8:15). 'In the bottom' means in a low place. The riders behind him have horses red, speckled and white, and horses of several colours go out again in Zech 6:1–8.

Verse 10

to walk to and fro through the earth — The riders were 'sent' by the LORD, and their walking is the verb of Job 1:7, 'going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it'. Zech 6:5 calls the chariots 'the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth', and Heb 1:14 speaks of spirits 'sent forth to minister'.

Verse 11

all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest — The report of the riders is of a quiet earth, while Jerusalem still lies unbuilt and the work 'ceased' (Ezra 4:24). The LORD had said of the same time, 'I will shake the heavens, and the earth' (Hag 2:6). Verse 15 names this quiet: the heathen 'that are at ease'. The riders answer 'the angel of the LORD', the man of v.8.

Verse 12

how long wilt thou not have mercy — The angel of the LORD speaks to 'the LORD of hosts' for the city. 'Have mercy' is racham, and the LORD answers 'with mercies' (rachamim) in v.16, the same root, and with 'good words and comfortable words' (v.13). 'Threescore and ten years' is the span of Jer 25:11 and 29:10, which Daniel also counted (Dan 9:2).

Verse 15

the heathen that are at ease — Shaanan, at ease and careless. The LORD says he 'was but a little displeased' (qatsaph), as Isa 54:8 has 'In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment'. The nations 'helped forward the affliction' beyond what he sent, as Isa 47:6 says of Babylon, 'thou didst shew them no mercy', and Ezek 25:12 of Edom.

Verse 16

I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies — Shub, the verb of v.3: the people were asked to turn, and now the LORD returns, as he says again in Zech 8:3, 'I am returned unto Zion'. 'A line shall be stretched forth' is seen in the next vision, 'a man with a measuring line in his hand… To measure Jerusalem' (Zech 2:1–2). Ezra 6:14 says the elders 'builded, and they prospered'.

Verse 18

four horns — A horn is a beast's weapon and a figure for strength: 'The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken' (Jer 48:25), and 'Lift not up your horn on high' (Ps 75:5). Verse 19 says what these four are: 'the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem'. The vision of horns follows the report of a quiet earth in v.11.

Verse 20

four carpenters — Charash is anyone who works in hard materials: 'carpenters' for the house of David (2 Sam 5:11), and 'smith' in 1 Sam 13:19. Verse 21 says what they have come for: 'to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it'. There are four craftsmen to answer the four horns.