Zechariah

About Zechariah

Zechariah encouraged the discouraged exiles rebuilding Jerusalem with a series of striking night visions, promising that God had returned to His city and that the work would be finished not by human strength but by His Spirit. The later chapters look further ahead to a humble king riding on a donkey, a shepherd who is pierced, and the day when the LORD is king over all the earth. Because of this, Zechariah is one of the most quoted prophets in the accounts of Jesus' final week.

Written by

The book names Zechariah son of Berechiah as its author, though many scholars think chapters 9-14 may come from a later hand or period, while others see the whole book as his.

When

Zechariah's dated messages begin in 520 BC alongside Haggai's, and the later chapters are harder to date, with scholarly estimates ranging into the following decades or beyond.

Themes

• God's Spirit, not human strength
• Visions of hope for Jerusalem
• The coming humble King
• The pierced shepherd
• God as King of all the earth

Key verses

• Zechariah 4:6So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.
• Zechariah 9:9Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
• Zechariah 12:10Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.