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6. Four Chariots

¹ I looked up again, and there before me were four chariots coming out from between two mountains—mountains of bronze. ² The first chariot had red horses, the second black, ³ the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. ⁴ I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these, my lord?”

⁵ The angel answered me, “These are the four spirits Or winds of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world. ⁶ The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the one with the white horses toward the west, Or horses after them and the one with the dappled horses toward the south.”

⁷ When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout the earth. And he said, “Go throughout the earth!” So they went throughout the earth.

⁸ Then he called to me, “Look, those going toward the north country have given my Spirit Or spirit rest in the land of the north.”

A Crown for Joshua

⁹ The word of the LORD came to me: ¹⁰ “Take silver and gold from the exiles Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah, who have arrived from Babylon. Go the same day to the house of Josiah son of Zephaniah. ¹¹ Take the silver and gold and make a crown, and set it on the head of the high priest, Joshua son of Jozadak. Hebrew Jehozadak, a variant of Jozadak ¹² Tell him this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Here is the man whose name is the Branch, and he will branch out from his place and build the temple of the LORD. ¹³ It is he who will build the temple of the LORD, and he will be clothed with majesty and will sit and rule on his throne. And he Or there will be a priest on his throne. And there will be harmony between the two.’ ¹⁴ The crown will be given to Heldai, Syriac; Hebrew Helem Tobijah, Jedaiah and Hen Or and the gracious one, the son of Zephaniah as a memorial in the temple of the LORD. ¹⁵ Those who are far away will come and help to build the temple of the LORD, and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. This will happen if you diligently obey the LORD your God.”

They who think that the crowns were deposited with these four men, pervert the meaning of the Prophet; for they were, on the contrary, placed in God’s temple to be a memorial to them. It hence appears; that, as I have already said, they were not required to supply the gold, because they excelled all others in piety and holiness, but because it was necessary to condemn their want of faith, inasmuch as they thought that their hope was disappointed, as God did not immediately fulfill what he had promised. Let then these crowns, saith the Spirit, be a memorial to them, that is, that whenever they look on these crowns they may check themselves and know that their expectations are very unreasonable, and that they themselves are too hasty when they wish all prophecies to be accomplished in one day; and also that the whole people may know that they had complained without reason, as these suspended crowns shall be a memorial and a testimony. We now then see more clearly why the Prophet had been ordered to take gold and silver from these four men: it was, that he might make crowns, which were afterwards to be deposited in God’s temple. At length he adds —