The Daily Audio Bible
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Return to the Lord
1 When Darius had been king of Persia for two years, Zechariah the prophet heard a message from the Lord.[a] It was the eighth month of the year. Zechariah was the son of Berekiah, and Berekiah was the son of Iddo.
2 This was the Lord's message:
‘I, the Lord, was very angry with your ancestors. 3 Now I, the Lord Almighty, say this to you: “If you return to me, I will return to you.” 4 Do not be like your ancestors. Many years ago the prophets gave them a message from me. The message was, “Stop doing those evil and wicked things.” But they did not listen to me. They did not think that my message was important. 5 That was a long time ago. Your ancestors have been dead for a long time. So have the prophets. 6 I told my prophets to speak my message and my commands. I punished your ancestors, as I warned them I would do. Then they turned back to me. They said, “The Lord Almighty has punished us for our sins, as he said he would do.” ’
The man on the red horse
7 On the 24th day of Shebat, the 11th month of the year, the Lord spoke to Zechariah the prophet. This was when Darius had been king for two years.
8 During the night I, Zechariah, had a dream from the Lord. I saw a man on a red horse. The horse was standing among some trees called myrtle trees, in the valley. And behind him were red, brown and white horses.
9 I asked him, ‘My lord, what are these horses?’ The angel who talked with me said, ‘I will show you what they are.’
10 The man who was standing among the trees answered, ‘The Lord has sent these horses to go to all the places on the earth.’
11 And the horses spoke to the angel of the Lord who stood among the trees. They said, ‘We have gone all over the earth. All the earth is without trouble.’
12 Then the angel of the Lord said, ‘Lord Almighty, how long will you be angry with Jerusalem? How long will you be angry with the cities of Judah? You have already been angry for 70 years.’ 13 And the Lord answered the angel with kind words.
14 The angel said to me, ‘Tell this to the people. This is what the Lord Almighty says: “I love Jerusalem. Jerusalem is mine. 15 I am very angry with the countries that are safe and without danger. Those countries were too cruel to my people, when I was only a little angry with Jerusalem.” 16 So this is what the Lord says: “I will return to Jerusalem to be kind to the people there. I will build my house again”, says the Lord Almighty, “and I will build the city again.” ’
17 The angel told me that I must say this: ‘The Lord Almighty says, “My towns will be rich again. I will again speak kind words to Jerusalem. I will choose Jerusalem again as my own city.” ’
Four horns and four workers[b]
18 And I looked up and I saw four horns. 19 And I asked the angel that talked with me, ‘What are these horns?’ Then the angel said to me, ‘These are the strong enemies of my people. They took my people out of Judah, out of Israel and out of Jerusalem.’
20 Then the Lord showed me four workers with hammers. 21 I said, ‘What are these men coming to do?’ The Lord answered, ‘The horns are the enemies that destroyed Judah. They destroyed Judah and they made the people ashamed. The workers came to frighten and to destroy the enemies because they killed many of my people. The enemies took many of my people out of Judah.’
The woman and the great red snake
12 A very wonderful thing then appeared in the sky. I saw a woman who was wearing the sun like her clothes. The moon was under her feet. A crown of 12 stars was on her head. 2 She was pregnant. She screamed with pain as she tried to give birth to her baby.
3 Then another wonderful thing appeared in the sky. It was a very big red dragon. It had seven heads and ten horns. There was a crown on each head. 4 Its tail beat away a third of the stars from the sky. It threw them down on the earth. Then the dragon stood in front of the woman who would soon give birth to her baby. He was waiting there to eat her child as soon as he was born. 5 The woman gave birth to a son. He was a man who would rule all the nations of the world with strong authority. Then someone quickly took her child away. He went up to God and to his throne. 6 The woman ran away into the wilderness. God had prepared a special place to keep her safe there for 1,260 days.
7 Then a war started in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon. The dragon and his army of angels fought against Michael and his angels.[a] 8 But the dragon and his army were not strong enough to win the battle. They no longer had a place for themselves in heaven. 9 Michael and his angels threw the great dragon out of heaven. The dragon is called the Devil or Satan. He is the snake who has been there since long ago. He tells lies to deceive the whole world. They threw him down to the earth, together with all his angels. 10 Then I heard a loud voice in heaven that said:
‘Now God has saved his people from Satan's power!
God has shown his great power as King.
His Messiah has authority to rule.
Satan said bad things against our people.
He never stopped telling our God that our brothers and sisters are guilty.
But now God has thrown him out of heaven.
11 Our brothers and sisters fought against him and they won.
They could do this because of the death of the Lamb as a sacrifice.
They continued to speak God's true message.
They were also ready to die as God's servants.
That is why they were able to win against Satan.
12 So be happy, everyone who lives in heaven!
But terrible trouble will happen to the earth and the sea.
The Devil has come down to you now and he is very angry.
He knows that he has only a short time to hurt people.’
13 The dragon realized that they had thrown him down to the earth. So he chased after the woman who had given birth to the baby boy. He wanted to catch her. 14 But the woman received the two wings of a very big eagle. Then she could fly to the place in the wilderness that God had prepared for her. In that place God would keep her safe from the big snake. God would take care of her there for a time, times and half a time.[b]
15 Then the dragon poured lots of water out of his mouth like a river. He wanted the river of water to carry the woman away. 16 But a big hole opened in the ground. The river that poured from the dragon's mouth went down into the hole. That helped the woman to escape. 17 As a result, the dragon was very angry with the woman. So he went away to fight a war against her other descendants. Those are the people who obey God's commands. They continue to trust Jesus and to speak his message.[c]
18 After that, the dragon stood on the shore of the sea.
This is a song that David wrote.
It is for the music leader.
Please help me, Lord
140 Lord, please save me from evil people.
Keep me safe from people who like to attack others.
2 They think of evil ideas to hurt people.
They only want to cause trouble!
3 Their words hurt people,
like the tongue of a snake.
They bite with poison,
like a dangerous snake.
Selah
4 Lord, keep me safe from the power of wicked people.
Keep me safe from violent people who want to attack me.
5 Proud people have prepared a trap to catch me.
They have put their nets across my path.[a]
Selah.
6 Lord, I say to you, ‘You are my God.’
Lord, hear my prayer for help!
7 Lord, my Lord, you are my strong helper.
You keep me safe when I fight in a battle.
8 Lord, do not let wicked people do what they want to do.
Stop them when they prepare to attack.
Selah.
9 Give trouble to the people who come round me to attack!
Let the bad things that they say against me
happen to them instead![b]
10 Drop burning coals on them like rain!
Throw those people into the fire!
Let them fall into deep holes that they cannot get out of!
11 People who tell cruel lies should not live in our land.
Trouble will happen to people who like to fight.
Bad trouble will knock them down!
12 I know that the Lord helps poor people.
He makes sure that they receive justice.
13 Your righteous people will always praise you.
Good, honest people will live near to you.
17 Punishment will come to anyone who insults his father, or who refuses to listen to his mother. Wild birds will pick out his eyes and vultures will eat his body.
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