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 4:6Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.
• Zechariah 9:9¶ Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass.
• Zechariah 12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.