Zechariah 1 A Call to Return to the LORD 1 In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo: 2 "The LORD was very angry with your forefathers. 3 Therefore tell the people: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Return to me,' declares the LORD Almighty, 'and I will return to you,' says the LORD Almighty. 4 Do not be like your forefathers, to whom the earlier prophets proclaimed: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Turn from your evil ways and your evil practices.' But they would not listen or pay attention to me, declares the LORD. 5 Where are your forefathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever? 6 But did not my words and my decrees, which I commanded my servants the prophets, overtake your forefathers? "Then they repented and said, 'The LORD Almighty has done to us what our ways and practices deserve, just as he determined to do.'" The Man Among the Myrtle Trees 7 On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo. 8 During the night I had a vision—and there before me was a man riding a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in a ravine. Behind him were red, brown and white horses. 9 I asked, "What are these, my lord?" The angel who was talking with me answered, "I will show you what they are." 10 Then the man standing among the myrtle trees explained, "They are the ones the LORD has sent to go throughout the earth." 11 And they reported to the angel of the LORD, who was standing among the myrtle trees, "We have gone throughout the earth and found the whole world at rest and in peace." 12 Then the angel of the LORD said, "LORD Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?" 13 So the LORD spoke kind and comforting words to the angel who talked with me. 14 Then the angel who was speaking to me said, "Proclaim this word: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, 15 but I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they added to the calamity.' 16 "Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,' declares the LORD Almighty. 17 "Proclaim further: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the LORD will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.' " Four Horns and Four Craftsmen 18 Then I looked up—and there before me were four horns! 19 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, "What are these?" He answered me, "These are the horns that scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem." 20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen. 21 I asked, "What are these coming to do?" He answered, "These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people."

Save it, fool!

In Israel a few rich people and newspapers can do a lot of things. Sharon was corrupt. His family is corrupt. He surounded himself by corrupt officials. In US one person, billioner Soros, transformed the whole Democrat party into anti-Israel organization. In Israel you don't need 100 millions shekels to transform Likud into Kadima organization. Olmerts can be bought for a few thousand shekels, and Sharon's sponsors have more than that. Polls mean nothing.

Lapid, you have no idea how deluded you are. You are exemplify the sel-righteous left which is the main cause for the enormous moral and political failures that occur in Israel today. You are a giant in your own mind. You speak for the Meretz and others who blame jews first. Find another profession.

It is amazing to me that Yair Lapid thinks of himself as intelligent. He has nothing intelligent to say and just spews hatred. As long as it makes himself feel big, I guess it is worth it for him. In truth, Lapid is a very small man. Small in inteeligence and small in morals. Chaval.

It is rare in our circles to see true intellectual honesty, especially among our media pundits. This apple rolled very far from the tree.

Should Mr. Lapid be really reminded that the hatred among the secular public in Israel towards the settlers started long before the "illegal outposts"? Lapid states the the settlers made mistakes. It is true. However, don't blame it all on the settlers, Yair. To remind you, many governments supported settlements in Gaza and the West Bank. Like I said in a comment to another article, in my settlement there's a tree planted by Shimon Peres himself. If governments were supporting settlements for years, you can't just come and say: "Okay, it's your fault, now get out". Mr. Lapid, how little do you know of settlers and their lifestyle. How easily do you present settlers as evil people, using their "powers" to suppress secular population of the country. How one-sided and misguided are you... As a reminder - the disengagement brought nothing good, and was a waste of lives and resources. It was started and performed for different reasons, but whatever the reasons were - it was a mistake. Not a "peace arrangement". A costly mistake, and we are still waiting to pay the price for that. Apparently, Mr. Lapid was one of the people who wanted to teach "those settlers" a lesson, even if he hides it cleverly behind his words. Apparently, if a region is devoid of "major religious importance" it's okay to throw 8,500 people on the street and leave thousands of soldiers and police officers with a mental trauma that will last for long - not to mention the settlers themselves. Mr. Lapid, don't be so naive. Settlers do keep joining the army, but this time - not to protect you and your family, but to protect their own and to protect the religion they believe in so much. Unlike the settlers, Yair, you still have to be taught a lesson. Your lesson will be hundreds of IDF soldiers killed due to soon-to-be war inside Gaza, which became possbile due to the "lesson" you gave to the settlers. Just wait. The "lesson" is soon coming to your house too - brought by "freedom fighters", willing 72 virgins a lot more than any peace.

Thank GOD for short sighted government actions &and the ranting of the fanatical moderates like lapid. The true & proper unification of all Torah jews is near. Israeli identity has shown itself finally as athiest and antagonistic to Judaism. NO JEW CAN HONESTLY DEFINE OR IDENTIFY WITH ISRAELI

You missed the boat long ago my friend. The LAND and people are one, not secular and religious. And by the way - Jay is MR. O

very hateful man! No,u r not delusional like some on here think-but what u r is semi-blind. Semi because u only see what u choose to see and have absolutly no objectivity as a journalist should-thank goodness u dont report the news but just "commentate". There r so many faults and antagonistic, fallable remarks in yo pompous article i wouldnt know where to start and i m sure u wouldnt read it anyway-i'm sure u dont read feedbacks on here-why should u--u think u r smarter, better and more ethical and its yo job to set us-the public straight. If u werent such a pompous ass u would actually get a secular settler interviewed, u would visit a mixed settlement like Eli and talk to idealistic-secular-right wingers who would explain to u why they CHOSE to live in Yesha and still cry every time they hear the word Gush Katif. If u actually had journalistic ethics u would dig a bit deeper into "polls" and see what job media played in that and why WE SETTLERS need to infiltrate media, why there r no kipot(and not friging yarmalkas) wearing guys in gal-galaz(except for 1-2 for the "balance")and why the whole scandal with Sharon's bribes has been hushed ever since....where is Omri and the skinny one? what happened to the island? what happened to the money? where is yo journalistic curiosity....ha? U r a hypocrite, semi-blind, non-journalist who has a sertain pleasant, intertaining style of writing--but do us all a favor-stay out of important issues like...everything! Stick to 3min interviews for yo show cause thats all u r capable of...a 3min depth!!!

Hhistory has shown before that Israel has its most courageous and proud moments when the there is Unity between the secular and the religious and we move forward as one people respecting each others desire and speed for change.

What type of peace arrangments should Israel make. The dissengagement did not bring greater security to Israel but the opposite and Israel is still viewed as occupying Gaza through the control of air and sea. What in the name of G-d is Lapid talking about when he concludes that Israel needs to make peace arrangements? HOW?

Woe to Israel if all it had were secular jews.

The only ones crying are the "oranges" and maybe once they see that they'll understand how wrong they were.

I guess we need to throw the leftist elites out of their houses and jobs in order to restore the "balance". I belive Stalin was a champion of this method of restoring "balance"

It is the sense of responsibility for Israel's welfare that lay behind the settler's stance and total ingratitude that lay behind the pro-disengagementers. Lapid conveniently fails to mention the military experts' advice not to pull out (which was proven to be right within 2 days of the disengagement) and distorts the poll results. I remember clearly that the polls at one point showed most were against the disengagement and inspite of that, Sharon went ahead, that was the whole outcry! This Lapid is con artist.

But since you're none the wiser.... so that naive nincumpoops like yourself can be set straight.

It seems this guy is so hatefull of Jews that he can't see anything.

You have no talent to be a hack writer. Barrista at Starbucks would suit u better.

In this entire screed, not once does Yair mention Hamas or Hezbullah or Ahmadinejad. He is truly a delusional little putz if he thinks that the religious sector needs to be disenfranchised by a secular apartheid policy, while ignoring the rioting mobs who would slice of his head just as easily as any head with a kippa on it.

There's only one reason the Disengagement's "anniversary" was so quiet; it's because we were AT WAR in Lebanon, and we didn't think it correct to bring up such a loaded issue at a time when we needed unity. Unforutnately, Mr. Lapid is way too pig-headed to understand that...and "unity" for him means "teaching settlers a lesson". Rather unenlightening for someone named "Yair" --Jameel muqata.blogspot.com

Yair, you are painfully right on the settlers' policies and attitudes. Besides Gaza is totally useless for Israel. It was just a murderous trap for innocent Jewish lives, soldiers and civilians alike. Not to mention the money and resources wasted on the Gaza settlements. You're right on the Qassams, that has been quite a blow. But let the Palestinians get it right by themselves for this once at least.

compared to the 150 talkbacks he used to get in the first couple of days, the 24 here are pitiful dont forget that mr son of daddy got me job writes "parve articles" every now and then Poor thing his ganna get fired son, oh sorry forgot , daddy is one of holders of iediot aharonot

You say it for us all . It isn't over yet ........... won't be until we return to the road-map and to the 1967 borders. We need another Sharon, another Rabin .