Complete Jewish Bible (CJB)

1 In the eighth month of the second year of Daryavesh, the following message fromAdonaicame to Z’kharyah the son of Berekhyah, the son of ‘Iddo, the prophet:

2 “Adonaiwas extremely angry with your ancestors.

3 Therefore, tell them thatAdonai-Tzva’otsays this: ‘“Return to me,” saysAdonai-Tzva’ot, “and I will return to you,” saysAdonai-Tzva’ot.

4 “Don’t be like your ancestors. The earlier prophets proclaimed to them, ‘Adonai-Tzva’otsays to turn back now from your evil ways and deeds’; but they didn’t listen or pay attention to me,” saysAdonai.

5 “Your ancestors, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

6 But my words and my laws, which I ordered my servants the prophets, overtook your ancestors, didn’t they? Then they turned and said, ‘Adonaihas dealt with us according to our ways and deeds, just as he intended to do.’”’”

7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Sh’vat, in the second year of Daryavesh, this message fromAdonaicame to Z’kharyah the son of Berekhyah, the son of ‘Iddo, the prophet:

8 It was night, and I saw there before me a man riding on a russet-colored horse. He stood among the myrtle bushes in the valley; and behind him were other horses, russet, chestnut-colored and white.

9 I asked, “What are these, my Lord?” The angel speaking with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.”

10 The man standing among the myrtles said, “These are those whomAdonaihas sent to wander throughout the earth.”

11 Then they themselves answered the angel ofAdonaistanding among the myrtles, “We have been wandering throughout the earth, and the whole world is quiet and at peace.”

12 The angel ofAdonaisaid, “Adonai-Tzva’ot, how long will you keep withholding mercy from Yerushalayim and the cities of Y’hudah? You’ve been angry with them for the past seventy years!”

13 Adonaireplied with kind and comforting words to the angel who was speaking with me.

14 The angel speaking with me then said to me, “Here is whatAdonai-Tzva’otsays: ‘I am extremely jealous on behalf of Yerushalayim and Tziyon;

15 and [to the same degree] I am extremely angry with the nations that are so self-satisfied; because I was only a little angry [at Yerushalayim and Tziyon], but they made the suffering worse.’

16 ThereforeAdonaisays, ‘I will return to Yerushalayim with merciful deeds. My house will be rebuilt there,’ saysAdonai-Tzva’ot; ‘yes, a measuring line will be stretched out over Yerushalayim.’

17 In addition, proclaim thatAdonai-Tzva’otsays, ‘My cities will again overflow with prosperity.’Adonaiwill again comfort Tziyon, and he will again make Yerushalayim the city of his choice.”

1 Then I looked up and saw four horns.

2 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these?” He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Y’hudah, Isra’el and Yerushalayim.”

3 Next,Adonaishowed me four artisans.

4 I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He said, “Those horns that scattered Y’hudah so completely that no one could even raise his head — well, these men have come to terrify them, to overthrow the nations that raised their horns against the land of Y’hudah to scatter it.”

5 I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand.

6 I asked, “Where are you going?” He said to me, “To measure Yerushalayim, to determine its width and length.”

7 Here the angel who was speaking to me went forward, and another angel went out, met him

8 and said to him, “Run and tell this young man, ‘Yerushalayim will be inhabited without walls, because there will be so many people and animals;

9 “for,” saysAdonai, “I will be for her a wall of fire surrounding her; and I will be the glory within her.

10 Up!” saysAdonai, “Move! Flee the land of the north! For I scattered you like the four winds of the sky,” saysAdonai.

11 “Move, Tziyon! You who are living with the daughter of Bavel, escape!”

12 ForAdonai-Tzva’othas sent me on a glorious mission to the nations that plundered you, and this is what he says: “Anyone who injures you injures the very pupil of my eye.

13 But I will shake my hand over them, and they will be plundered by those who were formerly their slaves.” Then you will know thatAdonai-Tzva’otsent me.

14 “Sing, daughter of Tziyon; rejoice! For, here, I am coming; and I will live among you,” saysAdonai.

15 When that time comes, many nations will join themselves toAdonai. “They will be my people, and I will live among you.” Then you will know that it wasAdonai-Tzva’otwho sent me to you.

16 Adonaiwill take possession of Y’hudah as his portion in the holy land, and he will again make Yerushalayim his choice.

17 Be silent, all humanity, beforeAdonai; for he has been roused from his holy dwelling.’”

1 He showed me Y’hoshua thecohen hagadolstanding before the angel ofAdonai, with the Accuser standing at his right to accuse him.

2 Adonaisaid to the Accuser, “MayAdonairebuke you, Accuser! Indeed, mayAdonai, who has made Yerushalayim his choice, rebuke you! Isn’t this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

3 Y’hoshua was clothed in garments covered with dung; and he was standing before the angel,

4 who said to those standing in front of him, “Take those filthy garments off of him.” Then to him he said, “See, I am taking your guilt away. I will clothe you in fine robes.”

5 I said, “They should put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and gave him fine robes to wear, while the angel ofAdonaistood by.

6 Then the angel ofAdonaigave Y’hoshua this warning:

7 “Adonai-Tzva’otsays this: ‘If you will walk in my ways, obey my commission, judge my house and guard my courtyards; then I will give you free access among these who are standing here.

8 Listen,cohen gadolY’hoshua, both you and your colleagues seated here before you, because these men are a sign that I am going to bring my servant Tzemach [Sprout].

9 For look at the stone I have put in front of Y’hoshua: on one stone are seven eyes; I will engrave what is to be written on it,’ saysAdonai-Tzva’ot; ‘and I will remove the guilt of this land in one day.

10 When that time comes,’ saysAdonai-Tzva’ot, ‘you will all invite each other to join you under your vines and fig trees.’”

1 Then the angel that had been speaking with me returned and roused me, as if he were waking someone up from being asleep,

2 and asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I’ve been looking at amenorah; it’s all of gold, with a bowl at its top, seven lamps on it, and seven tubes leading to the lamps at its top.

3 Next to it are two olive trees, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left.”

4 I then asked the angel speaking with me, “What are these, my Lord?” The angel speaking with me said,

5 “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my Lord.”

6 Then he answered me, “This is the word ofAdonaito Z’rubavel: ‘Not by force, and not by power, but by my Spirit,’ saysAdonai-Tzva’ot.

7 ‘What are you, you big mountain? Before Z’rubavel you will become a plain; and he will put the capstone in place, as everyone shouts, “It’s beautiful! Beautiful!”’

8 This message fromAdonaicame to me:

9 ‘The hands of Z’rubavel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will also finish it.’ Then you will know thatAdonai-Tzva’otsent me to you.

10 For even someone who doesn’t think much of a day when such minor events take place will rejoice at seeing the plumbline in the hand of Z’rubavel. So these seven are the eyes ofAdonaithat range about over all the earth.”

11 I replied by asking him, “What are those two olive trees on the right and left sides of themenorah?”

12 Then I asked the question again: “What are those two olive branches discharging gold[-colored oil] through the two gold spouts?”

13 He replied, “Don’t you know what they are?” I answered, “No, my Lord.”

14 He said, “Those are the two who have been anointed with oil; they are standing with the Lord of all the land.”

1 Again I raised my eyes, and I saw in front of me a flying scroll.

2 He said to me, “What do you see?” I replied, “I see a flying scroll thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide.

3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of all the land; for [according to what is written] on one side, everyone who steals will be swept away; and [according to what is written] on the other side, everyone who swears will be swept away.

4 ‘I will release it,’ saysAdonai-Tzva’ot, ‘and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name; it will stay there inside the house and consume it completely, even its timbers and stones.’”

5 Then the angel speaking with me went forward and said to me, “Now raise your eyes, and see what this thing is, passing by.”

6 I asked, “What is it?” He said, “This is theeifah-measure [a one-bushel dry-measure] passing by.” Then he added, “This is their eye in all the land.”

7 Next I saw a lead disc lifted up to reveal a woman sitting in theeifah.

8 He said, “This is Evil.” He threw her down into theeifahand pressed the lead weight over its opening.

9 I raised my eyes and saw two women coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like those of a stork. They lifted theeifahup between the earth and the sky.

10 I asked the angel speaking with me, “Where are they taking theeifah?”

11 He answered me, “To build it a shrine in the land of Shin‘ar. When it’s ready, [theeifah] will be set down there on its base.”