In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Allah came to Zakariyya Ibn Berechiah, Ibn Iddo, the prophet, saying, 2“Allah was very displeased with your fathers. 3Therefore tell them: Thus says Allah, Lord of the universe: ‘Return to me,’ says Allah, Lord of the universe, ‘and I will return to you,’ says Allah, Lord of the universe. 4Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets proclaimed, saying: Thus says Allah, Lord of the universe, ‘Return now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings;’ but they did not hear, nor listen to me, says Allah. 5Your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6But 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 Allah, Lord of the universe determined to do to us, according to our ways, and according to our practices, so he has dealt with us.‘” 7On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Allah came to Zakariyya Ibn Berechiah,Ibn Iddo, the prophet, saying, 8“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. 9Then I asked, ‘My lord, what are these?‘”
The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what these are.“
10The man who stood among the myrtle trees answered, “They are the ones Allah has sent to go back and forth through the earth.“
11They reported to the angel of Allah who stood among the myrtle trees, and said, “We have walked back and forth through the earth, and, behold, all the earth is at rest and in peace.“
12Then the angel of Allah replied, “O Allah, Lord of the universe, how long will you not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which you have had indignation these seventy years?“
13Allah answered the angel who talked with me with kind and comforting words. 14So the angel who talked with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘Thus says Allah, Lord of the universe: “I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Al-Quds with a great jealousy. 15I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.“ 16Therefore thus says Allah: “I have returned to Jerusalem with mercy. My house shall be built in it,“ says Allah, Lord of the universe, “and a line shall be stretched forth over Jerusalem.“‘
17“Proclaim further, saying, ‘Thus says Allah, Lord of the universe: “My cities will again overflow with prosperity, and Allah will again comfort Al-Quds, and will again choose Jerusalem.“‘”
18I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and, behold, four horns. 19I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these?“
He answered me, “These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.“
20Allah showed me four craftsmen. 21Then I asked, “What are these coming to do?“
He said, “These are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these have come to terrify them, to cast down the horns of the nations, which lifted up their horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.“