1:7 大利烏第二年十一月,就是細罷特月二十四日,耶和華的話臨到易多的孫子、比利家的兒子先知撒迦利亞,說:
1:8 「我夜間觀看,見一人騎著紅馬,站在窪地番石榴樹中間。在他身後又有紅馬、黃馬,和白馬。」
1:9 我對與我說話的天使說:「主啊,這是甚麼意思?」他說:「我要指示你這是甚麼意思。」
1:10 那站在番石榴樹中間的人說:「這是奉耶和華差遣在遍地走來走去的。」
1:11 那些騎馬的對站在番石榴樹中間耶和華的使者說:「我們已在遍地走來走去,見全地都安息平靜。」
1:12 於是,耶和華的使者說:「萬軍之耶和華啊,你惱恨耶路撒冷和猶大的城邑已經七十年,你不施憐憫要到幾時呢?」
1:13 耶和華就用美善的安慰話回答那與我說話的天使。
1:14 與我說話的天使對我說:「你要宣告說,萬軍之耶和華如此說:我為耶路撒冷為錫安,心裡極其火熱。
1:15 我甚惱怒那安逸的列國,因我從前稍微惱怒我民,他們就加害過分。
1:16 所以耶和華如此說:現今我回到耶路撒冷,仍施憐憫,我的殿必重建在其中,準繩必拉在耶路撒冷之上。這是萬軍之耶和華說的。
1:17 你要再宣告說,萬軍之耶和華如此說:我的城邑必再豐盛發達。耶和華必再安慰錫安,揀選耶路撒冷。」
7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh
month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the Lord
came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.
8 During the night I had a vision, and
there before me was a man mounted on a red horse. He was standing among the
myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses.
9 I asked, “What are these, my lord?”
The angel who was talking with me answered,
“I will show you what they are.”
10 Then the man standing among the myrtle
trees explained, “They are the ones the Lord has sent to go throughout the
earth.”
11 And they reported to the angel of the
Lord who was standing among the myrtle trees, “We have gone throughout the
earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace.”
12 Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord
Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of
Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?” 13 So the Lord
spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me.
14 Then the angel who was speaking to me
said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very
jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 and I am very angry with the nations that
feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the
punishment.’
16 “Therefore this is what the Lord says:
‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And
the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the Lord
Almighty.
17 “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord
Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will
again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’”
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雖然猶大被巴比倫滅了,上帝的子民被擄到巴比倫,可是上帝沒有忘記他們,他們在七十年後,竟然回耶路撒冷建聖殿,重新敬拜上帝,成為真正敬畏上帝的子民。
上帝透過撒迦利亞先知來宣告此事,上帝也真的成就這美事。在一次讓我們確認上帝是信實的上帝,上帝的應許是不會落空的!