THE PROPHECY OF ZACHARIAS

         ZACHARIAS began to prophesy in the same year as Aggeus, and
         upon the same occasion. His prophecy is full of mysterious
         figures and promises of blessings, partly relating to the
         synagogue, and partly to the church of Christ.

         Zacharias Chapter 1

         The prophet exhorts the people to return to God, and
         declares his visions, by which he puts them in hopes of
         better times.

         1:1. In the eighth month, in the second year of king Darius,
         the word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias,
         the son of Addo, the prophet, saying:

         1:2. The Lord hath been exceeding angry with your fathers.

         1:3. And thou shalt say to them: Thus saith the Lord of
         hosts: Turn ye to me, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will
         turn to you, saith the Lord of hosts.

         1:4. Be not as your fathers, to whom the former prophets
         have cried, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Turn ye
         from your evil ways, and from your wicked thoughts: but they
         did not give ear, neither did they hearken to me, saith the
         Lord.

         1:5. Your fathers, where are they? and the prophets, shall
         they live always?

         1:6. But yet my words, and my ordinances, which I gave in
         charge to my servants the prophets, did they not take hold
         of your fathers, and they returned, and said: As the Lord of
         hosts thought to do to us according to our ways, and
         according to our devices, so he hath done to us.

         1:7. In the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month
         which is called Sabath, in the second year of Darius, the
         word of the Lord came to Zacharias the son of Barachias, the
         son of Addo, the prophet, saying:

         1:8. I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red
         horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees, that were in the
         bottom: and behind him were horses, red, speckled, and
         white.

         A man... An angel in the shape of a man. It was probably
         Michael, the guardian angel of the church of God.

         1:9. And I said: What are these, my lord? and the angel that
         spoke in me, said to me: I will shew thee what these are:

         1:10. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees
         answered, and said: These are they, whom the Lord hath sent
         to walk through the earth.

         These are they, etc... The guardian angels of provinces
         and nations.

         1:11. And they answered the angel of the Lord, that stood
         among the myrtle trees, and said: We have walked through the
         earth, and behold all the earth is inhabited, and is at
         rest.

         1:12. And the angel of the Lord answered, and said: O Lord
         of hosts, how long wilt thou not have mercy on Jerusalem,
         and on the cities of Juda, with which thou hast been angry?
         this is now the seventieth year.

         The seventieth year... Viz., from the beginning of the
         seige of Jerusalem, in the ninth year of king Sedecias, to
         the second year of king Darius. These seventy years of the
         desolation of Jerusalem and the cities of Juda, are
         different from the seventy years of captivity foretold by
         Jeremias; which began in the fourth year of Joakim, and
         ended in the first year of king Cyrus.

         1:13. And the Lord answered the angel, that spoke in me,
         good words, comfortable words.

         1:14. And the angel that spoke in me, said to me: Cry thou,
         saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am zealous for
         Jerusalem, and Sion with a great zeal.

         1:15. And I am angry with a great anger with the wealthy
         nations: for I was angry a little, but they helped forward
         the evil.

         1:16. Therefore thus saith the Lord: I will return to
         Jerusalem in mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith
         the Lord of hosts: and the building line shall be stretched
         forth upon Jerusalem.

         1:17. Cry yet, saying: Thus saith the Lord of hosts: My
         cities shall yet flow with good things: and the Lord wlll
         yet comfort Sion, and he will yet choose Jerusalem.

         1:18. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw: and behold four
         horns.

         Four horns... The four horns represent the empires, or
         kingdoms, that persecute and oppress the kingdom of God.

         1:19. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: What are
         these?  And he said to me: These are the horns that have
         scattered Juda, and Israel, and Jerusalem.

         1:20. And the Lord shewed me four smiths.

         Four smiths... The four smiths, or carpenters ( for faber
         may signify either) represent those whom God makes his
         instruments in bringing to nothing the power of
         persecutors.

         1:21. And I said: What come these to do? and he spoke,
         saying: These are the horns which have scattered Juda every
         man apart, and none of them lifted up his head: and these
         are come to fray them, to cast down the horns of the
         nations, that have lifted up the horn upon the land of Juda
         to scatter it.

         Zacharias Chapter 2

         Under the name of Jerusalem, he prophesieth the progress of
         the church of Christ, by the conversion of some Jews and
         many Gentiles.

         2:1. And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold a man,
         with a measuring line in his hand.

         2:2. And I said: Whither goest thou? and he said to me: To
         measure Jerusalem, and to see how great is the breadth
         thereof, and how great the length thereof.

         2:3. And behold the angel that spoke in me went forth, and
         another angel went out to meet him.

         2:4. And he said to him: Run, speak to this young man,
         saying: Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls, by
         reason of the multitude of men, and of the beasts in the
         midst thereof.

         Jerusalem shall be inhabited without walls... This must
         be understood of the spiritual Jerusalem, the church of
         Christ.

         2:5. And I will be to it, saith the Lord, a wall of fire
         round about: and I will be in glory in the midst thereof.

         2:6. O, O flee ye out of the land of the north, saith the
         Lord, for I have scattered you into the four winds of
         heaven, saith the Lord.

         2:7. O Sion, flee, thou that dwellest with the daughter of
         Babylon:

         2:8. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: After the glory he
         hath sent me to the nations that have robbed you: for he
         that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of my eye:

         2:9. For behold, I lift up my hand upon them, and they
         shall be a prey to those that served them: and you shall
         know that the Lord of hosts sent me.

         2:10. Sing praise, and rejoice, O daughter of Sion: for
         behold I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee: saith
         the Lord.

         2:11. And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that
         day, and they shall be my people, and I will dwell in the
         midst of thee: and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts
         hath sent me to thee.

         2:12. And the Lord shall possess Juda his portion in the
         sanctified land: and he shall yet choose Jerusalem.

         2:13. Let all flesh be silent at the presence of the Lord:
         for he is risen up out of his holy habitation.

         Zacharias Chapter 3

         In a vision Satan appeareth accusing the high priest. He is
         cleansed from his sins. Christ is promised, and great fruit
         from his passion.

         3:1. And the Lord shewed me Jesus the high priest standing
         before the angel of the Lord: and Satan stood on his right
         hand to be his adversary.

         Jesus... Alias, Josue, the son of Josedec, the high priest
         of that time.

         3:2. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke thee, O
         Satan: and the Lord that chose Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is
         not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

         3:3. And Jesus was clothed with filthy garments: and he
         stood before the face of the angel.

         With filthy garments... Negligences and sins.

         3:4. Who answered, and said to them that stood before him,
         saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said
         to him: Behold I have taken away thy iniquity, and have
         clothed thee with change of garments.

         3:5. And he said: Put a clean mitre upon his head: and they
         put a clean mitre upon his head, and clothed him with
         garments, and the angel of the Lord stood.

         3:6. And the angel of the Lord protested to Jesus, saying:

         3:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If thou wilt walk in my
         ways, and keep my charge, thou also shalt judge my house,
         and shalt keep my courts, and I will give thee some of them
         that are now present here to walk with thee.

         I will give thee, etc... Angels to attend and assist thee.

         3:8. Hear, O Jesus thou high priest, thou and thy friends
         that dwell before thee, for they are portending men: for
         behold, I WILL BRING MY SERVANT THE ORIENT.

         Portending men... That is, men, who by words and actions
         are to foreshew wonders that are to come.-Ibid. My servant
         the Orient... Christ, who according to his humanity is the
         servant of God, is called the Orient from his rising like
         the sun in the east to enlighten the world.

         3:9. For behold the stone that I have laid before Jesus:
         upon one stone there are seven eyes: behold I will grave
         the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts: and I will
         take away the iniquity of that land in one day.

         The stone... Another emblem of Christ, the rock,
         foundation, and corner stone of his church.-Ibid. Seven
         eyes... The manifold providence of Christ over his church,
         or the seven gifts of the spirit of God.-Ibid. One day...
         Viz., the day of the passion of Christ, the source of all
         our good: when this precious stone shall be graved, that
         is, cut and pierced, with whips, thorns, nails, and spear.

         3:1O. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, every man shall
         call his friend under the vine and under the fig tree.

         Zacharias Chapter 4

         The vision of the golden candlestick and seven lamps, and
         of the two olive trees.

         4:1. And the angel that spoke in me came again: and he
         waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.

         4:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I have
         looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its lamp
         upon the top of it: and the seven lights thereof upon it:
         and seven funnels for the lights that were upon the top
         thereof.

         A candlestick, etc... The temple of God that was then in
         building; and in a more sublime sense, the church of
         Christ.

         4:3. And two olive trees over it: one upon the right side
         of the lamp, and the other upon the left side thereof.

         4:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in
         me, saying: What are these things, my lord?

         4:5. And the angel that spoke in me answered, and said to
         me: Knowest thou not what these things are? And I said: No,
         my lord.

         4:6. And he answered, and spoke to me, saying: This is the
         word of the Lord to Zorobabel, saying: Not with an army,
         nor by might, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.

         To Zorobabel... This vision was in favour of Zorobabel:
         to assure him of success in the building of the temple,
         which he had begun, signified by the candlestick; the
         lamp of which, without any other industry, was supplied
         with oil, dropping from the two olive trees, and
         distributed by the seven funnels or pipes, to maintain
         the seven lights.

         4:7. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zorobabel? thou
         shalt become a plain: and he shall bring out the chief
         stone, and shall give equal grace to the grace thereof.

         Great mountain... So he calls the opposition made by the
         enemies of God's people; which nevertheless, without an
         army or might on their side, was quashed by divine
         providence.-Ibid. Shall give equal grace, etc... Shall add
         grace to grace, or beauty to beauty.

         4:8. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

         4:9. The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundations of
         this house, and his hands shall finish it: and you shall
         know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me to you.

         4:10. For who hath despised little days? and they shall
         rejoice, and shall see the tin plummet in the hand of
         Zorobabel.  These are the seven eyes of the Lord, that run
         to and fro through the whole earth.

         Little days... That is, these small and feeble beginnings
         of the temple of God.-Ibid. The tin plummet... Literally,
         the stone of tin. He means the builder's plummet, which
         Zorobabel shall hold in his hand for the finishing the
         building.-Ibid. The seven eyes... The providence of God,
         that oversees and orders all things.

         4:11. And I answered, and said to him: What are these two
         olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and
         upon the left side thereof ?

         4:12. And I answered again, and said to him: What are the
         two olive branches, that are by the two golden beaks, in
         which are the funnels of gold?

         4:13. And he spoke to me, saying: Knowest thou not what
         these are? And I said: No, my lord.

         4:14. And he said: These are two sons of oil who stand
         before the Lord of the whole earth.

         Two sons of oil... That is, the two anointed ones of the
         Lord; viz., Jesus the high priest, and Zorobabel the
         prince.

         Zacharias Chapter 5

         The vision of the flying volume, and of the woman in the
         vessel.

         5:1. And I turned and lifted up my eyes: and I saw, and
         behold a volume flying.

         A volume... That is, a parchment, according to the form
         of the ancient books, which, from being rolled up, were
         called volumes.

         5:2. And he said to me: What seest thou? And I said: I see
         a volume flying: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and
         the breadth thereof ten cubits.

         5:3. And he said to me: This is the curse that goeth forth
         over the face of the earth: for every thief shall be judged
         as is there written: and every one that sweareth in like
         manner shall be judged by it.

         5:4. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts: and it
         shall come to the house of the thief, and to the house of
         him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain
         in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the
         timber thereof, and the stones thereof.

         5:5. And the angel went forth that spoke in me, and he said
         to me: Lift up thy eyes, and see what this is, that goeth
         forth.

         5:6. And I said: What is it? And he said: This is a vessel
         going forth. And he said: This is their eye in all the
         earth.

         This is their eye... This is what they fix their eye upon:
         or this is a resemblance and figure of them, viz., of
         sinners.

         5:7. And behold a talent of lead was carried, and behold a
         woman sitting in the midst of the vessel.

         5:8. And he said: This is wickedness. And he cast her into
         the midst of the vessel, and cast the weight of lead upon
         the mouth thereof.

         5:9. And I lifted up my eyes and looked: and behold there
         came out two women, and wind was in their wings, and they
         had wings like the wings of a kite: and they lifted up the
         vessel between the earth and the heaven.

         5:10. And I said to the angel that spoke in me: Whither do
         these carry the vessel?

         5:11. And he said to me: That a house may be built for it
         in the land of Sennaar, and that it may be established, and
         set there upon its own basis.

         The land of Sennaar... Where Babel or Babylon was built,
         Gen. 11., where note, that Babylon in holy writ is often
         taken for the city of the devil: that is, for the whole
         congregation of the wicked: as Jerusalem is taken for the
         city and people of God.

         Zacharias Chapter 6

         The vision of the four chariots. Crowns are ordered for
         Jesus the high priest, as a type of Christ.

         6:1. And I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and saw: and
         behold four chariots came out from the midst of two
         mountains: and the mountains were mountains of brass.

         Four chariots... The four great empires of the Chaldeans,
         Persians, Grecians, and Romans. Or perhaps by the fourth
         chariot are represented the kings of Egypt and of Asia,
         the descendants of Ptolemeus and Seleucus.

         6:2. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the
         second chariot black horses.

         6:3. And in the third chariot white horses, and in the
         fourth chariot grisled horses, and strong ones.

         6:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in
         me: What are these, my lord?

         6:5. And the angel answered, and said to me: These are the
         four winds of the heaven, which go forth to stand before
         the Lord of all the earth.

         6:6. That in which were the black horses went forth into
         the land of the north, and the white went forth after them:
         and the grisled went forth to the land the south.

         The land of the north... So Babylon is called; because it
         lay to the north in respect of Jerusalem. The black
         horses, that is, the Medes and Persians: and after them
         Alexander and his Greeks, signified by the white horses,
         went thither because they conquered Babylon, executed
         upon it the judgments of God, which is signified, ver. 8,
         by the expression of quieting his spirit.-Ibid. The land
         of the south... Egypt, which lay to the south of
         Jerusalem, and was occupied first by Ptolemeus, and then
         by the Romans.

         6:7. And they that were most strong, went out, and sought
         to go, and to run to and fro through all the earth. And he
         said: Go, walk throughout the earth: and they walked
         throughout the earth.

         6:8. And he called me, and spoke to me, saying: Behold they
         that go forth into the land of the north, have quieted my
         spirit in the land of the north.

         6:9. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying:

         6:10. Take of them of the captivity, of Holdai, and of
         Tobias, and of Idaias; thou shalt come in that day, a shalt
         go into the house of Josias, the son of Sophonias, who came
         out of Babylon.

         6:11. And thou shalt take gold and silver: and shalt make
         crowns, and thou shalt set them on the head of Jesus the
         son of Josedec, the high priest.

         6:12. And thou shalt speak to him, saying: Thus saith the
         Lord of hosts, saying: BEHOLD A MAN, THE ORIENT IS HIS
         NAME: and under him shall he spring up, a shall build a
         temple to the Lord.

         6:13. Yea, he shall build a temple to the Lord: and he
         shall bear the glory, and shall sit, and rule upon his
         throne: and he shall be a priest upon his throne, and the
         counsel of peace shall be between them both.

         Between them both... That is, he shall unite in himself
         the two offices or dignities of king and priest.

         6:14. And the crowns shall be to Helem, and Tobias, and
         Idaias, and to Hem, the son of Sophonias, a memorial in the
         temple of the Lord.

         6:15. And they that are far off, shall come and shall build
         in the temple of the Lord: and you shall know that the Lord
         of hosts sent me to you. But this shall come to pass, if
         hearing you will hear the voice of the Lord your God.

         Zacharias Chapter 7

         The people inquire concerning fasting: they are admonished
         to fast from sin.

         7:1. And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius,
         that the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, in the fourth
         day of the ninth month, which is Casleu.

         7:2. When Sarasar, and Rogommelech, and the men that were
         with him, sent to the house of God, to entreat the face of
         the Lord:

         7:3. To speak to the priests of the house of the Lord of
         hosts, and to the prophets, saying: Must I weep in the
         fifth month, or must I sanctify myself as I have now done
         for many years?

         The fifth month... They fasted on the tenth day of the
         fifth month; because on that day the temple was burnt.
         Therefore they inquire whether they are to continue the
         fast, after the temple is rebuilt. See this query answered
         in the 19th verse of the following chapter.

         7:4. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

         7:5. Speak to all the people of the land, and to the
         priests, saying: When you fasted, and mourned in the fifth
         and the seventh month for these seventy years: did you keep
         a fast unto me?

         7:6. And when you did eat and drink, did you not eat for
         yourselves, and drink for yourselves?

         7:7. Are not these the words which the Lord spoke by the
         hand of the former prophets, when Jerusalem as yet was
         inhabited, and was wealthy, both itself and the cities
         round about it, and there were inhabitants towards the
         south, and in the plain?

         7:8. And the word of the Lord came to Zacharias, saying:

         7:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, saying: Judge ye true
         judgment, and shew ye mercy and compassion every man to his
         brother.

         7:10. And oppress not the widow, and the fatherless, and
         the stranger, and the poor: and let not a man devise evil
         in his heart against his brother.

         7:11. But they would not hearken, and they turned away the
         shoulder to depart: and they stopped their ears, not to
         hear.

         7:12. And they made their heart as the adamant stone, lest
         they should hear the law, and the words which the Lord of
         hosts sent in his spirit by the hand of the former
         prophets: so a great indignation came from Lord of hosts.

         7:13. And it came to pass that as he spoke, and they heard
         not: so shall they cry, and I will not hear, saith the Lord
         of hosts.

         7:14. And I dispersed them throughout all kingdoms, which
         they know not: and the land was left desolate behind them,
         so that no man passed through or returned: and they changed
         the delightful land into a wilderness.

         Zacharias Chapter 8

         Joyful promises to Jerusalem: fully verified in the church
         of Christ.

         8:1. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

         8:2. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I have been jealous for
         Sion with a great jealousy, and with a great indignation
         have I been jealous for her.

         8:3. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: I am returned to Sion,
         and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and Jerusalem
         shall be called The city of truth, and the mountain of the
         Lord of hosts, The sanctified mountain.

         8:4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: There shall yet old men
         and old women dwell in the streets of Jerusalem: and every
         man with his staff in his hand through multitude of days.

         8:5. And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and
         girls, playing in the streets thereo.

         8:6. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: If it seem hard in the
         eyes of the remnant of this people in those days: shall it
         be hard in my eyes, saith the Lord of hosts?

         8:7. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Behold I will save my
         people from the land of the east, and from the land of the
         going down of the sun.

         8:8. And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the
         midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will
         be their God in truth and in justice.

         8:9. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: Let your hands be
         strengthened, you that hear in these days these words by
         the mouth of the prophets, in the day that the house of the
         Lord of hosts was founded, that the temple might be built.

         8:1O. For before those days there was no hire for men,
         neither was there hire for beasts, neither was there peace
         to him that came in, nor to him that went out, because of
         the tribulation: and I let all men go every one against his
         neighbour.

         8:11. But now I will not deal with the remnant of this
         people according to the former days, saith the Lord of
         hosts.

         8:12. But there shall be the seed of peace: the vine shall
         yield her fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and
         the heavens shall give their dew: and I will cause the
         remnant of this people to possess all these things.

         8:13. And it shall come to pass, that as you were a curse
         among the Gentiles, O house of Juda, and house of Israel:
         so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing: fear not,
         let your hands be strengthened.

         8:14. For thus saith the Lord of hosts: As I purposed io
         afflict you, when your fathers had provoked me to wrath,
         saith the Lord,

         8:15. And I had no mercy: so turning again I have thought
         in these days to do good to the house of Juda, and
         Jerusalem: fear not.

         8:16. These then are the things, which you shall do: Speak
         ye truth every one to his neighbour; judge ye truth and
         judgment of peace in your gates.

         8:17. And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts
         against his friend: and love not a false oath: for all
         these are the things that I hate, saith the Lord.

         8:18. And the word of the Lord of hosts came to me, saying:

         8:19. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: The fast of the fourth
         month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the
         seventh, and the fast of the tenth shall be to the house of
         Juda, joy, and gladness, and great solemnities: only love
         ye truth and peace.

         The fast of the fourth month, etc... They fasted, on the
         ninth day of the fourth month, because on that day
         Nabuchodonosor took Jerusalem, Jer. 52.6. On the tenth
         day of the fifth month, because on that day the temple was
         burnt, Jer. 52.12. On the third day of the seventh month,
         for the murder of Godolias, Jer. 41.2. And on the tenth
         day of the tenth month, because on that day the Chaldeans
         began to besiege Jerusalem, 4 Kings 25.1. All these fasts,
         if they will be obedient for the future, shall be changed,
         as is here promised, into joyful solemnities.

         8:20. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, until people come and
         dwell in many cities,

         8:21. And the inhabitants go one to another, saying: Let us
         go, and entreat the face of the Lord, and let us seek the
         Lord of hosts: I also will go.

         8:22. And many peoples, and strong nations shall come to
         seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to entreat the
         face of the Lord.

         8:23. Thus saith the Lord of hosts: In those days, wherein
         ten men of all languages of the Gentiles shall take hold,
         and shall hold fast the skirt of one that is a Jew, saying:
         We will go with you: for we have heard that God is with
         you.

         Ten men, etc... Many of the Gentiles became proselytes to
         the Jewish religion before Christ: but many more were
         converted to Christ by the apostles and other preachers
         of the Jewish nation.

         Zacharias Chapter 9

         God will defend his church, and bring over even her enemies
         to the faith. The meek coming of Christ, to bring peace, to
         deliver the captives by his blood, and to give us all good
         things.

         9:1. The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of
         Hadrach, and of Damascus the rest thereof: for the eye of
         man, and of all the tribes of Israel is the Lord's.

         Hadrach... Syria.

         9:2. Emath also in the borders thereof, and Tyre, and
         Sidon: for they have taken to themselves to be exceeding
         wise.

         9:3. And Tyre hath built herself a strong hold, and heaped
         together silver as earth, and gold as the mire of the
         streets.

         9:4. Behold the Lord shall possess her, and shall strike
         her strength in the sea, and she shall be devoured with
         fire.

         9:5. Ascalon shall see, and shall fear, and Gaza, and shall
         be very sorrowful: and Accaron, because her hope is
         confounded: and the king shall perish from Gaza, and
         Ascalon shall not be inhabited.

         9:6. And the divider shall sit in Azotus, and I will
         destroy the pride of the Philistines.

         9:7. And I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and
         his abominations from between his teeth: and even he shall
         be left to our God, and he shall be as a governor in Juda,
         and Accaron as a Jebusite.

         His blood... It is spoken of the Philistines, and
         particularly of Azotus, (where the temple of Dagon was,)
         and contains a prophecy of the conversion of that people
         from their bloody sacrifices and abominations to the
         worship of the true God.

         9:8. And I will encompass my house with them that serve me
         in war, going and returning, and the oppressor shall no
         more pass through them: for now I have seen with my eyes.

         That serve me in war... Viz., the Machabees.

         9:9. Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Sion, shout for joy, O
         daughter of Jerusalem: BEHOLD THY KING will come to thee,
         the just and saviour: he is poor, and riding upon an ass,
         and upon a colt, the foal of an ass.

         9:10. And I will destroy the chariot out of Ephraim, and
         the horse out of Jerusalem, and the bow for war shall be
         broken: and he shall speak peace to the Gentiles, and his
         power shall be from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to
         the end of the earth.

         9:11. Thou also by the blood of thy testament hast sent
         forth thy prisoners out of the pit, wherein is no water.

         9:12. Return to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, I
         will render thee double as I declare today.

         9:13. Because I have bent Juda for me as a bow, I have
         filled Ephraim: and I will raise up thy sons, O Sion, above
         thy sons, O Greece, and I will make thee as the sword of
         the mighty.

         Thy sons, O Sion, etc... Viz., the apostles, who, in the
         spiritual way, conquered the Greeks, and subdued them to
         Christ.

         9:14. And the Lord God shall be seen over them, and his
         dart shall go forth as lightning: and the Lord God will
         sound the trumpet, and go in the whirlwind of the south.

         9:15. The Lord of hosts will protect them: and they shall
         devonr, and subdue with the stones of the sling: and
         drinking they shall be inebriated as it were with wine, and
         they shall be filled as bowls, and as the horns of the
         altar.

         9:16. And the Lord their God will save them in that day, as
         the flock of his people: for holy stones shall be lifted up
         over his land.

         Holy stones... The apostles, who shall be as pillars and
         monuments in the church.

         9:17. For what is the good thing of him, and what is his
         beautiful thing, but the corn of the elect, and wine
         springing forth virgins?

         The corn, etc... His most excellent gift is the blessed
         Eucharist, called here The corn, that is, the bread of
         the elect, and the wine springing forth virgins; that is,
         maketh virgins to bud, or spring forth, as it were, like
         flowers among thorns; because it has a wonderful efficacy
         to give and preserve purity.

         Zacharias Chapter 10

         God is to be sought to, and not idols. The victories of his
         church, which shall arise originally from the Jewish
         nation.

         10:1. Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the
         Lord will make snows, and will give them showers of rain,
         to every one grass in the field.

         10:2. For the idols have spoken what was unprofitable, and
         the diviners have seen a lie, and the dreamers have spoken
         vanity: they comforted in vain: therefore they were led
         away as a flock: they shall be afflicted, because they have
         no shepherd.

         10:3. My wrath is kindled against the shepherds, and I will
         visit upon the buck goats: for the Lord of hosts hath
         visited his flock, the house of Juda, and hath made them as
         the horse of his glory in the battle.

         10:4. Out of him shall come forth the corner, out of him
         the pin, out of him the bow of battle, out of him ever
         exacter together.

         10:5. And they shall be as mighty men, treading under foot
         the mire of the ways in battle: and they shall fight,
         because the Lord is with them, and the riders of horses
         shall be confounded.

         10:6. And I will strengthen the house of Juda, and save the
         house of Joseph: and I will bring them back again, because
         I will have mercy on them: and they shall be as they were
         when I had not cast them off, for I am the Lord their God,
         and will hear them.

         10:7. And they shall be as the valiant men of Ephraim, and
         their heart shall rejoice as through wine: and their
         children shall see, and shall rejoice, and their heart
         shall be joyful in the Lord.

         10:8. I will whistle for them, and I will gather them
         together, because I have redeemed them: and I will multiply
         them as they were multiplied before.

         10:9. And I will sow them among peoples: and from afar they
         shall remember me: and they shall live with their children,
         and shall return.


         10:10. And I will bring them back out of the land of Egypt,
         and I will gather them from among the Assyrians: and will
         bring them to the land of Galaad, and Libanus, and place
         shall not be found for them.

         10:11. And he shall pass over the strait of the sea, and
         shall strike the waves in the sea, and all the depths of
         the river shall be confounded, and the pride of Assyria
         shall be humbled, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart.

         10:12. I will strengthen them in the Lord, and they shall
         walk in his name, saith the Lord.

         Zacharias Chapter 11

         The destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. God's dealings
         with the Jews, and their reprobation.

         11:1. Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy
         cedars.

         O Libanus... So Jerusalem, and more particularly the
         temple, is called by the prophets, from its height, and
         from its being built of the cedars of Libanus.-Ibid. Thy
         cedars... Thy princes and chief men.

         11:2. Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the
         mighty are laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the
         fenced forest is cut down.

         11:3. The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because
         their glory is laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the
         lions, because the pride of the Jordan is spoiled.

         11:4. Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the
         slaughter,

         11:5. Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not,
         and they sold them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are
         become rich: and their shepherds spared them not.

         11:6. And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land,
         saith the Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one
         into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king:
         and they shall destroy the land, and I will not deliver it
         out of their hand.

         Every one into his neighbour's hand, etc... This alludes
         to the last siege of Jerusalem, in which the different
         factions of the Jews destroyed one another; and they that
         remained fell into the hands of their king, that is, of
         the Roman emperor, of whom they had said, John 19.15, we
         have no king but Caesar.

         11:7. And I will feed the flock of slaughter for this, O ye
         poor of the flock. And I took unto me two rods, one I
         called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord, and I fed the
         flock.

         Two rods... Or shepherd's staves, meaning the different
         ways of God's dealing with his people; the one, by sweet
         means, called the rod of Beauty: the other, by bands and
         punishments, called the Cord. And where both these rods
         are made of no use or effect by the obstinacy of sinners,
         the rods are broken, and such sinners are given up to a
         reprobate sense, as the Jews were.

         11:8. And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my
         soul was straitened in their regard: for their soul also
         varied in my regard.

         Three shepherds in one month... That is, in a very short
         time. By these three shepherds probably are meant the
         latter princes and high priests of the Jews, whose reign
         was short.

         11:9. And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth,
         let it die: and that which is cut off, let it be cut off:
         and let the rest devour every one the flesh of his
         neighbour.

         11:10. And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut
         it asunder to make void my covenant, which I had made with
         all people.

         11:11. And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of
         the flock that keep for me, understood that it is the word
         of the Lord.

         11:12. And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes,
         bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they
         weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

         11:13. And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a
         handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took
         the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house
         of the Lord to the statuary.

         The statuary... The Hebrew word signifies also a potter.

         11:14. And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord,
         that I might break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.

         11:15. And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the
         instruments of a foolish shepherd.

         A foolish shepherd... This was to represent the foolish,
         that is, the wicked princes and priests that should rule
         the people, before their utter desolation.

         11:16. For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land,
         who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is
         scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which
         standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and
         break their hoofs.

         11:17. O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the
         sword upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall
         quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly
         darkened.

         Zacharias Chapter 12

         God shall protect his church against her persecutors. The
         mourning of Jerusalem.

         12:1. The burden of the word of the Lord upon Israel. Thus
         saith the Lord, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and
         layeth the foundations of the earth, and formeth the spirit
         of man in him:

         12:2. Behold I will make Jerusalem a lintel of surfeiting
         to all the people round about: and Juda also shall be in
         the siege against Jerusalem.

         A lintel of surfeiting... That is, a door into which they
         shall seek to enter, to glut themselves with blood; but
         they shall stumble, and fall like men stupefied with wine.
         It seems to allude to the times of Antiochus, and to the
         victories of the Machabees.

         12:3. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
         make Jerusalem a burdensome stone to all people: all that
         shall lift it up shall be rent and torn, and all the
         kingdoms of the earth shall be gathered together against
         her.

         12:4. In that day, saith the Lord, I will strike every
         horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness: and I
         will open my eyes upon the house of Juda, and will strike
         every horse of the nations with blindness.

         12:5. And the governors of Juda shall say in their heart:
         Let the inhabitants of Jerusalem be strengthened for me in
         the Lord of hosts, their God.

         12:6. In that day I will make the governors of Juda like a
         furnace of fire amongst wood, and as a firebrand amongst
         hay: and they shall devour all the people round about, to
         the right hand, and to the left: and Jerusalem shall be
         inhabited again in her own place in Jerusalem.

         12:7. And the Lord shall save the tabernacles of Jada, as
         in the beginning: that the house of David, and the glory of
         the inhabitants of Jerusalem, may not boast and magnify
         themselves against Juda.

         12:8. In that day shall the Lord protect the inhabitants of
         Jerusalem, and he that hath offended among them in that day
         shall be as David: and the house of David, as that of God,
         as an angel of the Lord in their sight.

         12:9. And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will
         seek to destroy all the nations that come against
         Jerusalem.

         12:10. And I will pour out upon the house of David, and
         upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace, and
         of prayers: and they shall look upon me, whom they have
         pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for
         an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner
         is to grieve for the death of the firstborn.

         12:11. In that day there shall be a great lamentation in
         Jerusalem like the lamentation of Adadremmon in the plain
         of Mageddon.

         Adadremmon... A place near Mageddon, where the good king
         Josias was slain, and much lamented by his people.

         12:12. And the land shall mourn: families and families
         apart: the families of the house of David apart, and their
         women apart:

         12:13. The families of the house of Nathan apart, and their
         women apart: the families of the house of Levi apart, and
         their women apart: the families of Semei apart, and their
         women apart.

         12:14. All the rest of the families, families and families
         apart, and their women apart.

         Zacharias Chapter 13

         The fountain of Christ. Idols and false prophets shall be
         extirpated: Christ shall suffer: his people shall be tried
         by fire.

         13:1. In that day there shall be a fountain open to the
         house of David, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: for
         the washing of the sinner, and of the unclean woman.

         13:2. And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord
         of hosts, that I will destroy the names of idols out of the
         earth, and they shall be remembered no more: and I will
         take away the false prophets, and the unclean spirit out of
         the earth.

         13:3. And it shall come to pass, that when any man shall
         prophesy any more, his father and his mother that brought
         him into the world, shall say to him: Thou shalt not live:
         because thou hast spoken a lie in the name of the Lord. And
         his father, and his mother, his parents, shall thrust him
         through, when he shall prophesy.

         13:4. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the
         prophets shall be confounded, every one by his own vision,
         when he shall prophesy, neither shall they be clad with a
         garment of sackcloth, to deceive:

         13:5. But he shall say: I am no prophet, I am a husbandman:
         for Adam is my example from my youth.

         13:6. And they shall say to him: What are these wounds in
         the midst of thy hands? And he shall say: With these I was
         wounded in the house of them that loved me.  13:7. Awake, O
         sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that
         cleaveth to me, saith the Lord of hosts: strike the
         shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn
         my hand to the little ones.

         13:8. And there shall be in all the earth, saith the Lord,
         two parts in it shall be scattered, and shall perish: but
         the third part shall be left therein.

         13:9. And I will bring the third part through the fire, and
         will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them
         as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will
         hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall
         say: The Lord is my God.

         Zacharias Chapter 14

         After the persecutions of the church shall follow great
         prosperity. Persecutors shall be punished: so shall all
         that will not serve God in his church.

         14:1. Behold the days of the Lord shall come, and thy
         spoils shall be divided in the midst of thee.

         14:2. And I will gather all nations to Jerusalem to battle,
         and the city shall be taken, and the houses shall be
         rifled, and the women shall be defiled: and half of the
         city shall go forth into captivity, and the rest of the
         people shall not be taken away out of the city.

         I will gather, etc... This seems to be a prophecy of what
         was done by Antiochus.

         14:3. Then the Lord shall go forth, and shall fight against
         those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle.

         14:4. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount
         of Olives, which is over against Jerusalem towards the
         east: and the mount of Olives shall be divided in the midst
         thereof to the east, and to the west with a very great
         opening, and half of the mountain shall be separated to the
         north, and half thereof to the south.

         14:5. And you shall flee to the valley of those mountains,
         for the valley of the mountains shall be joined even to the
         next, and you shall flee as you fled from the face of the
         earthquake in the days of Ozias king of Juda: and the Lord
         my God shall come, and all the saints with him.

         14:6. And it shall come to pass in that day, that there
         shall be no light, but cold and frost.

         No light... Viz., in that dismal time of persecution of
         Antiochus, when it was neither day nor night: (ver. 7)
         because they neither had the comfortable light of the day,
         nor the repose of the night.

         14:7. And there shall be one day, which is known to the
         Lord, not day nor night: and in the time of the evening
         there shall be light:

         In the time of the evening there shall be light... An
         unexpected light shall arise by the means of the
         Machabees, when things shalll seem to be at the worst.

         14:8. And it shall come to pass in that day, that living
         waters shall go out from Jerusalem: half of them to the
         east sea, and half of them to the last sea: they shall be
         in summer and in winter.

         Living waters... Viz., the gospel of Christ.

         14:9. And the Lord shall be king over all the earth: in
         that day there shall be one Lord, and his name shall be
         one.

         14:10. And all the land shall return even to the desert,
         from the hill to Remmon to the south of Jerusalem: and she
         shall be exalted, and shall dwell in her own place, from the
         gate of Benjamin even to the place of the former gate, and
         even to the gate of the corners: and from the tower of
         Hananeel even to the king's winepresses.

         All the land shall return, etc... This, in some measure,
         was verified by the means of the Machabees: but is rather
         to be taken in a spiritual sense, as relating to the
         propagation of the church, and kingdom of Christ, the true
         Jerusalem, which alone shall never fall under the anathema
         of destruction, or God's curse.

         14:11. And people shall dwell in it, and there shall be no
         more an anathema: but Jerusalem shall sit secure.

         14:12. And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord
         shall strike all nations that have fought against
         Jerusalem: the flesh of every one shall consume away while
         they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume
         away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in
         their mouth.

         The flesh of every one shall consume, etc... Such
         judgments as these have often fallen upon the persecutors
         of God's church, as appears by many instances in history.

         14:13. In that day there shall be a great tumult from the
         Lord among them: and a man shall take the hand of his
         neighbour, and his hand shall be clasped upon his
         neighbour's hand.

         14:14. And even Juda shall fight against Jerusalem: and the
         riches of all nations round about shall be gathered
         together, gold, and silver, and garments in great
         abundance.

         Even Juda, etc... The carnal Jews, and other false
         brothers, shall join in persecuting the church.

         14:15. And the destruction of the horse, and of the mule,
         and of the camel, and of the ass, and of all the beasts,
         that shall be in those tents, shall be like this
         destruction.

         Shall be like this destruction... That is, the beasts
         shall be destroyed as well as the men: the common soldiers
         as well as their leaders.

         14:16. And all they that shall be left of all nations that
         came against Jerusalem, shall go up from year to year, to
         adore the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the feast of
         tabernacles.

         They that shall be left, etc... That is, many of them that
         persecuted the church shall be converted to its faith and
         communion.-Ibid. To keep the feast of tabernacles... This
         feast was kept by the Jews in memory of their sojourning
         forty years in the desert, in their way to the land of
         promise. And in the spiritual sense is duly kept by all
         such Christians as in their earthly pilgrimage are
         continually advancing toward their true home, the heavenly
         Jerusalem; by the help of the sacraments and sacrifice of
         the church. And they that neglect this must not look for
         the kind showers of divine grace, to give fruitfulness to
         their souls.

         14:17. And it shall come to pass, that he that shall not go
         up of the families of the land to Jerusalem, to adore the
         King, the Lord of hosts, there shall be no rain upon them.

         14:18. And if the family of Egypt go not up nor come:
         neither shall it be upon them, but there shall be
         destruction wherewith the Lord will strike all nations that
         will not go up to keep the feast of tabernacles.

         14:19. This shall be the sin of Egypt, and this the sin of
         all nations, that will not go up to keep the feast of
         tabernacles.

         14:20. In that day that which is upon the bridle of the
         horse shall be holy to the Lord: and the caldrons in the
         house of the Lord shall be as the phials before the altar.

         That which is upon the bridle, etc... The golden ornaments
         of the bridles, etc., shall be turned into offerings in
         the house of God. And there shall be an abundance of
         caldrons and phials for the sacrifices of the temple; by
         which is meant, under a figure, the great resort there
         shall be to the temple, that is, to the church of Christ,
         and her sacrifice.

         14:21. And every caldron in Jerusalem and Juda shall be
         sanctified to the Lord of hosts: and all that sacrifice
         shall come, and take of them, and shall seethe in them: and
         the merchant shall be no more in the house of the Lord of
         hosts in that day.

         The merchant shall be no more, etc... Or, as some render
         it, The Chanaanite shall be no more, etc., that is, the
         profane and unbelievers shall have no title to be in the
         house of the Lord. Or there shall be no occasion for
         buyers or sellers of oxen, or sheep, or doves, in the
         house of God, such as Jesus Christ cast out of the
         temple.

The text in this file was taken with permission from Catholic Software's Douay Bible program, a complete multimedia Bible for the PC. The complete product description follows:

Douay Bible ME: A multimedia Bible. Text and footnotes are from the 1899 version of the Douay-Rheims Bible. Supports unlimited cut and paste as well as searches. It also has a concordance, topical index, and maps. These features make it powerful and easy to use. Music and color photography make it a visual and auditory feast. However, if your computer doesn't support multimedia, you can suppress these features at installation time. Available for DOS, Windows, or Windows 95. $85.00. Order from: Catholic Software, P.O. Box 1914, Murray, KY 42071. Phone: 1-502-753-8198.