In the eighth month, in the second year of Daryavesh, the word of יהוה came to Zekharyah son of Berekhyah son of 'Iddo the prophet, saying:

יהוה was angry with your fathers, with anger.

And you shall say to them, 'Thus says יהוה of Hosts, 'Return to Me,' declares יהוה of Hosts, 'and I will return to you,' says יהוה of Hosts.

Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried, saying, 'Thus says יהוה of Hosts, 'Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds,' but they did not hear and did not pay attention to Me,' declares יהוה.

Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?

Only, My words and My statutes, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? And they returned and said, 'Just as יהוה of Hosts purposed to do to us according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He did to us.'

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month of Shevat, in the second year of Daryavesh, the word of יהוה came to Zekharyah son of Berekhyah son of 'Iddo the prophet, saying:

I saw in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees which were in the deep, and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses.

And I said, 'What are these, my Adonai?' And the angel who spoke with me said to me, 'I will show you what these are.'

And the man standing among the myrtle trees answered and said, 'These are the ones whom יהוה has sent to walk throughout the earth.'

And they answered the angel of יהוה who was standing among the myrtle trees and said, 'We have walked throughout the earth, and behold, all the earth is inhabited and at rest.'

Then the angel of יהוה answered and said, 'יהוה of Hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Yerushalayim and on the cities of Yehudah, against which You have been angry these seventy years?'

And יהוה answered the angel who spoke with me with good words, comforting words.

And the angel who spoke with me said to me, 'Cry out, saying, 'Thus says יהוה of Hosts, 'I am jealous for Yerushalayim and for Tsiyon with great jealousy.

And I am greatly angry with the complacent nations, because I was angry a little, and they helped with disaster.'

Therefore, thus says יהוה, 'I have returned to Yerushalayim with compassion; My house shall be built in it,' declares יהוה of Hosts, 'and a measuring line shall be stretched out over Yerushalayim.'

Cry out again, saying, 'Thus says יהוה of Hosts, 'My cities shall again overflow with good, and יהוה will again comfort Tsiyon, and He will again choose Yerushalayim.'