¹ In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of Jehovah unto Zechariah the prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

² Jehovah hath been very wroth with your fathers.

³ And thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will Return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts.

⁴ Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings; but they did not hearken nor attend unto me, saith Jehovah.

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 prophet, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, saying,

⁸ I saw by night, and behold, a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle-trees that were in the low valley; and behind him were red, bay, and white horses.

⁹ And I said, My lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these are.

¹⁰ And the man that stood among the myrtle-trees answered and said, These are they whom Jehovah hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth.

¹¹ And they answered the angel of Jehovah that stood among the myrtle-trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and behold, all the earth sitteth still and is at rest.

¹² And the angel of Jehovah answered and said, Jehovah of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which thou hast had indignation these seventy years?

¹³ And Jehovah answered the angel that talked with me good words, comforting words.

¹⁴ And the angel that talked with me said unto me, Cry, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy,

¹⁵ and I am wroth exceedingly with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little wroth, and they helped forward the affliction.

¹⁶ Therefore thus saith Jehovah: I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith Jehovah of hosts, and the line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

¹⁷ Cry further, saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: My cities shall yet overflow with prosperity, and Jehovah shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

¹⁸ And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns.

¹⁹ And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these? And he said to me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

²⁰ And Jehovah shewed me four craftsmen.

²¹ And I said, What come these to do? And he spoke, saying, Those are the horns which scattered Judah, so that no man lifted up his head; but these are come to affright them, to cast out the horns of the nations, which lifted up the horn against the land of Judah to scatter it.

¹ He entered into a boat, and crossed over, and came into his own city.

² Behold, they brought to him a man who was paralyzed, lying on a bed. Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, "Son, cheer up! Your sins are forgiven you."

³ Behold, some of the scribes said to themselves, "This man blasphemes."

⁴ Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said, "Why do you think evil in your hearts?

⁵ For which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven;' or to say, 'Get up, and walk?'

⁶ But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins..." (then he said to the paralytic), "Get up, and take up your mat, and go up to your house."

⁷ He arose and departed to his house.

⁸ But when the multitudes saw it, they marveled and glorified God, who had given such authority to men.

⁹ As Jesus passed by from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax collection office. He said to him, "Follow me." He got up and followed him.

¹⁰ It happened as he sat in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Jesus and his disciples.

¹¹ When the Pharisees saw it, they said to his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?"

¹² When Jesus heard it, he said to them, "Those who are healthy have no need for a physician, but those who are sick do.

¹³ But you go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

¹⁴ Then John's disciples came to him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples don't fast?"

¹⁵ Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

¹⁶ No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch would tear away from the garment, and a worse hole is made.

¹⁷ Neither do people put new wine into old wineskins, or else the skins would burst, and the wine be spilled, and the skins ruined. No, they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

¹⁸ While he told these things to them, behold, a ruler came and worshiped him, saying, "My daughter has just died, but come and lay your hand on her, and she will live."

¹⁹ Jesus got up and followed him, as did his disciples.

²⁰ Behold, a woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years came behind him, and touched the fringe of his garment;

²¹ for she said within herself, "If I just touch his garment, I will be made well."

²² But Jesus, turning around and seeing her, said, "Daughter, cheer up! Your faith has made you well." And the woman was made well from that hour.

²³ When Jesus came into the ruler's house, and saw the flute players, and the crowd in noisy disorder,

²⁴ he said to them, "Make room, because the girl isn't dead, but sleeping." They were ridiculing him.

²⁵ But when the crowd was put out, he entered in, took her by the hand, and the girl arose.

²⁶ The report of this went out into all that land.

²⁷ As Jesus passed by from there, two blind men followed him, calling out and saying, "Have mercy on us, son of David!"

²⁸ When he had come into the house, the blind men came to him. Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They told him, "Yes, Lord."

²⁹ Then he touched their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it done to you."

³⁰ Their eyes were opened. Jesus strictly commanded them, saying, "See that no one knows about this."

³¹ But they went out and spread abroad his fame in all that land.

³² As they went out, behold, a mute man who was demon possessed was brought to him.

³³ When the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke. The multitudes marveled, saying, "Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel!"

³⁴ But the Pharisees said, "By the prince of the demons, he casts out demons."

³⁵ Jesus went about all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the Good News of the Kingdom, and healing every disease and every sickness among the people.

³⁶ But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.

³⁷ Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest indeed is plentiful, but the laborers are few.

³⁸ Pray therefore that the Lord of the harvest will send out laborers into his harvest."