The prophet exhorts the people to return to God, and declares his
visions, by which he puts them in hopes of better times.
1:1. In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius, the word
of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo,
the prophet, saying:
1:2. The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.
1:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye
to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will turn to you, saith the Lord
of hosts.
1:4. Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets have cried,
saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye from your evil ways, and
from your wicked thoughts: but they did not give ear, neither did they
hearken to me, saith the Lord.
1:5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall they live
always?
1:6. But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in charge to my
servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers, and they
returned, and said: As the Lord of hosts thought to do to us according
to our ways, and according to our devices, so he hath done to us.
1:7. In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month which is
called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord came
to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the son of Addo, the prophet,
saying:
1:8. I saw by 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
were horses, red, speckled, and white.
A man. . .An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably Michael, the
guardian angel of the church of God.
1:9. And I said: What are these, my Lord? and the angel that spoke in
me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:
1:10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered, and said:
These are they, whom the Lord hath sent to walk through the earth.
These are they, etc. . .The guardian angels of provinces and nations.
1:11. And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood among the
myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the earth, and behold
all the earth is inhabited, and is at rest.
1:12. And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord of hosts,
how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem, and on the cities of
Juda, with which thou hast been angry? this is now the seventieth year.
The seventieth year. . .Viz., from the beginning of the seige of
Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to the second year of
king Darius. These seventy years of the desolation of Jerusalem and the
cities of Juda, are different from the seventy years of captivity
foretold by Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and
ended in the first year of king Cyrus.
1:13. And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me, good words,
comfortable words.
1:14. And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou, saying:
Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for Jerusalem, and Sion with
a great zeal.
1:15. And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy nations: for I
was angry a little, but they helped forward the evil.
1:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to Jerusalem in
mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts: and
the building line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.
1:17. Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My cities shall
yet flow with good things: and the Lord will yet comfort Sion, and he
will yet choose Jerusalem.
1:18. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four horns.
Four horns. . .The four horns represent the empires, or kingdoms, that
persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.
1:19. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: What are these? And he
said to me: These are the horns that have scattered Juda, and Israel,
and Jerusalem.
1:20. And the Lord shewed me four smiths.
Four smiths. . .The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber may signify
either) represent those whom God makes his instruments in bringing to
nothing the power of persecutors.
1:21. And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke, saying: These
are the horns which have scattered Juda every man apart, and none of
them lifted up his head: and these are come to fray them, to cast down
the horns of the nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of
Juda to scatter it.