3. “And you shall say to them, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back to Me,” declares יהוה of hosts, “and I shall turn back to you,” declares יהוה of hosts.
4. “Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “Turn back now from your evil ways and your evil deeds.” ’ But they did not obey or give heed to Me,” declares יהוה.
5. “Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever?
6. “But My words and My laws, which I commanded My servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers?” “Then they turned back and said, ‘As יהוה of hosts planned to do to us, according to our ways and according to our deeds, so He has done with us.’ ” ’ ”
7. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sheḇat, in the second year of Dareyawesh, the word of יהוה came to Zeḵaryah son of Bereḵyahu, son of Iddo the prophet, saying,
8. “I looked at night and saw a man riding on a red horse, and he was standing among the myrtle trees in the shade. And behind him were horses: red, sorrel, and white.”
9. And I said, “My master, what are these?” And the messenger who was speaking to me said to me, “Let me show you what they are.”
10. And the man who stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, “They are the ones יהוה has sent to go throughout the earth.”
11. And they answered the messenger of יהוה, who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have gone throughout the earth, and see, all the earth is at peace and rest.”
12. And the messenger of יהוה answered and said, “O יהוה of hosts, how long would You have no compassion on Yerushalayim and on the cities of Yehuḏah, against which You were enraged these seventy years?”
13. And יהוה answered the messenger who talked to me, good words, comforting words.
14. And the messenger who spoke with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus said יהוה of hosts, “I have been jealous for Yerushalayim and for Tsiyon with great jealousy.