1 Then I turned around. I looked up and saw four chariots going between two bronze mountains. 2 Red horses were pulling the first chariot. Black horses were pulling the second chariot. 3 White horses were pulling the third chariot, and horses with red spots were pulling the fourth chariot. 4 I asked the angel who was talking with me, “Sir, what does this mean?”

5 The angel said, “These are the four winds.* four winds Or “four spirits.” Four winds often means “winds that blow from every direction: north, south, east, and west.” They have just come from the Lord of the whole world. 6 The black horses will go north, the red horses will go east, the white horses will go west, and the horses with red spots will go south.”

7 The red spotted horses were anxious to go look at their part of the earth, so the angel told them, “Go walk through the earth.” So they went walking through their part of the earth.

8 Then he shouted at me and said, “Look, those horses that were going north finished their job in Babylon. They have calmed my spirit; I am not angry now!”

9 Then I received another message from the LORD. He said, 10 “Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah have come from the captives† captives People taken away as prisoners. Here, it means the Jewish people who were taken to Babylon. in Babylon. Get silver and gold from these men and then go to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. 11 Use the silver and gold to make a crown. Put it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jehozadak. 12 Then tell him this is what the LORD All-Powerful says:

15 People living far away will come and build the LORD’S Temple. Then you will know for sure that the LORD All-Powerful sent me to you people. All these things will happen if you do what the LORD your God says.