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Zechariah 1

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Zechariah calls the returned exiles to return to the LORD, then sees night visions promising restoration.

Opening with a call to repentance unlike their fathers, Zechariah receives the first of eight night visions — beginning with the horsemen patrolling the earth — assuring a discouraged community that God is jealous for Jerusalem and will restore it.

📖 Zechariah introduction

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1In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo saying, ✦ 2“The Lord was very angry with your fathers. ✦ 3Therefore say to them, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “Return to Me,” declares the Lord of armies, “that I may return to you,” says the Lord of armies. ✦ 4“Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “Return now from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not listen or pay attention to Me,” declares the Lord. ✦ 5“Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? ✦ 6But did My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, not overtake your fathers? Then they repented and said, ‘Just as the Lord of armies planned to do to us in accordance with our ways and our deeds, so He has dealt with us.’ ” ’ ” ✦ 7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, that is, the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, as follows: ✦ 8I saw at night, and behold, a man was riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the ravine, with red, sorrel, and white horses behind him. ✦ 9Then I said, “What are these, my lord?” And the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” ✦ 10And the man who was standing among the myrtle trees responded and said, “These are the ones whom the Lord has sent to patrol the earth.” ✦ 11So they responded to the angel of the Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, “We have patrolled the earth, and behold, all the earth is still and quiet.” ✦ 12Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord of armies, how long will You take no pity on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, with which You have been indignant for these seventy years?” ✦ 13And the Lord responded to the angel who was speaking with me with gracious words, comforting words. ✦ 14So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion. ✦ 15But I am very angry with the nations who are carefree; for while I was only a little angry, they furthered the disaster.” ✦ 16Therefore the Lord says this: “I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house will be built in it,” declares the Lord of armies, “and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.” ’ ✦ 17Again, proclaim, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and again choose Jerusalem.” ’ ” ✦ 18Then I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, there were four horns. ✦ 19So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “What are these?” And he said to me, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.” ✦ 20Then the Lord showed me four craftsmen. ✦ 21And I said, “What are these coming to do?” And he said, “These are the horns that have scattered Judah so that no one lifts up his head; but these craftsmen have come to frighten them, to throw down the horns of the nations who have lifted up their horns against the land of Judah in order to scatter it.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Where this chapter connects

Zech 1 ·21Zech 2 ·8Zech 4 ·7Neh 9 ·6Jer 31 ·6Zech 8 ·52 Chr 36 ·4Zech 5 ·4

Christ at the center

The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.

How Zechariah 1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

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