Passage

Zechariah 1.7

Book: Zechariah · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6. But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not overtake your fathers? and they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.

7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

I saw in the 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 there were horses, red, sorrel, and white. 9. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show thee what these are. (Zechariah 1:5-9, ASV)

WEB

5. Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6. But my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, didn’t they overtake your fathers? “Then they repented and said, ‘Just as Yahweh of Armies determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.’”

7. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, Yahweh’s word came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,

“I had a vision in the night, and behold, a man riding on a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in a ravine; and behind him there were red, brown, and white horses. 9. Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?’” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.” (Zechariah 1:5-9, WEB)

KJV

5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, do they live for ever? 6. But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, did they not take hold of your fathers? and they returned and said, Like as the LORD of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us. ^{take: or, overtake}

7. Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying,

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 there red horses, speckled, and white. ^{speckled: or, bay} 9. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. (Zechariah 1:5-9, KJV)

YLT

5. Your fathers, where [are] they? And the prophets, to the age do they live? 6. Only, My words, and My statutes, That I commanded My servants the prophets, Have they not overtaken your fathers, And they turn back and say: As Jehovah of Hosts designed to do to us, According to our ways, and according to our doings, So He hath done to us?'

7. On the twenty and fourth day of the eleventh month, (it [is] the month of Sebat,) in the second year of Darius, hath a word of Jehovah been unto Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, the prophet, saying:

I have seen by night, and lo, one riding on a red horse, and he is standing between the myrtles that [are] in the shade, and behind him [are] horses, red, bay, and white. 9. And I say, 'What [are] these, my lord?' And the messenger who is speaking with me saith unto me, 'I, I do shew thee what these [are].' (Zechariah 1:5-9, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the book's heading, introducing the night visions received by Zechariah, son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, a prophet of priestly descent
Audience: the returned Judean community in Jerusalem, under Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest
Location: Jerusalem, in the Persian province of Yehud
Time period: the twenty-fourth day of Shebat, the eleventh month, in the second year of Darius I, early 519 BC

Theological reading

"Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying,"

A second heading, three months after the first (1:1), and it governs everything through 6:8. What follows is a sequence of eight visions given in one night: the rider among the myrtles, the four horns and the four smiths, the man with the measuring line, Joshua before the angel, the lampstand and the olive trees, the flying roll, the woman in the ephah, and the four chariots. The prophet is roused partway through "as a man that is wakened out of his sleep" (4:1), which keeps the series together as a single night's experience.

The day is not incidental. Work on the temple resumed on the twenty-fourth day of the sixth month (Haggai 1:15), and Haggai's last two oracles, including the promise "from this day will I bless you," came on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (Haggai 2:10, 18-20). Exactly two months later, on the twenty-fourth again, Zechariah receives the visions. Haggai pressed the people to build; the visions show them what the building stands inside.

"Shebat" is a month name brought back from Babylon. Earlier texts number the months or use older names such as Abib (Exodus 13:4) and Ziv (1 Kings 6:1). Shebat, like Chislev (7:1) and Adar (Ezra 6:15), belongs to the calendar the exiles learned abroad, and the date formula carries that history in a word.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

None of the words in this verse has its own lexicon entry yet.

Quoted in

Concepts:

Biblical Prophecy

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.