8. One night I looked out and saw a man astride a red horse. He was in the shadows in a grove of birches. Behind him were more horses—a red, a chestnut, and a white.
9. I said, “Sir, what are these horses doing here? What’s the meaning of this?”The Angel-Messenger said, “Let me show you.”
10. Then the rider in the birch grove spoke up, “These are the riders that God sent to check things out on earth.”
11. They reported their findings to the Angel of God in the birch grove: “We have looked over the whole earth and all is well. Everything’s under control.”
12. The Angel of God reported back, “O God-of-the-Angel-Armies, how long are you going to stay angry with Jerusalem and the cities of Judah? When are you going to let up? Isn’t seventy years long enough?”
18. I looked up, and was surprised by another vision: four horns!
19. I asked the Messenger-Angel, “And what’s the meaning of this?”He said, “These are the powers that have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem abroad.”
20. Then God expanded the vision to include four blacksmiths.
21. I asked, “And what are these all about?”He said, “Since the ‘horns’ scattered Judah so badly that no one had any hope left, these blacksmiths have arrived to combat the horns. They’ll dehorn the godless nations who used their horns to scatter Judah to the four winds.”