Zechariah 1 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo.

Yahweh was furious with your ancestors.

So tell them: This is what Yahweh who commands armies says. Come back to me, declares Yahweh who commands armies, and I will come back to you, says Yahweh who commands armies.

Don't be like your ancestors. The prophets before me called out to them, "This is what Yahweh who commands armies says. Turn back from the evil roads you walk and the evil things you do." But they would not listen. They paid me no attention, declares Yahweh.

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

But my words and my rulings, the ones I gave my servants the prophets, didn't they catch up with your ancestors in the end? Then they turned back and said, "Yahweh who commands armies set out to deal with us as our roads and our deeds deserved, and that is exactly what he did."

On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shevat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berechiah son of Iddo.

Last night I saw a man riding a red horse. He was standing among the myrtle trees down in the hollow, and behind him were horses, red and chestnut and white.

I said, "What are these, sir?" And the messenger who was talking with me said, "I'll show you what they are."

Then the man standing among the myrtle trees spoke up. "These are the ones Yahweh sent out to patrol the earth."

And they reported back to the messenger of Yahweh standing among the myrtle trees. "We have been all over the earth, and the whole earth is sitting still and undisturbed."

Then the messenger of Yahweh said, "Yahweh who commands armies, how long before you show Jerusalem some mercy, and the towns of Judah, the ones you have been angry with these seventy years?"

And Yahweh answered the messenger who was talking with me. The words were good words, words that would settle a person.

Then the messenger who was talking with me said, "Announce this. Yahweh who commands armies says: I love Jerusalem fiercely. I want Zion back, and I will not share her."

"And I am furious with the nations sitting there so comfortable. I was only a little angry with my people, and they piled on the damage."

So this is what Yahweh says: I have come back to Jerusalem with mercy. My house will be rebuilt in her, declares Yahweh who commands armies, and the builder's line will be stretched out over Jerusalem.

Announce this as well. Yahweh who commands armies says: My towns will spill over with good things again. Yahweh will comfort Zion again, and he will choose Jerusalem again.

Then I looked up, and there were four horns.

I asked the messenger who was talking with me, "What are these?" He said, "These are the horns that scattered Judah and Israel and Jerusalem."

Then Yahweh showed me four blacksmiths.

I said, "What have these men come to do?" He said, "Those are the horns that scattered Judah so badly no one could lift his head. These men have come to throw a scare into them and to knock the horns off the nations, the ones that raised a horn against the land of Judah and drove her people apart."