Zechariah 1

Zechariah 1 is the first chapter of the Book of Zechariah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible.^[1][2] This book contains the prophecies spoken by the prophet Zechariah, and is a part of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets.^[3][4]

Text

• The original text is written in Hebrew language.
• This chapter is divided into 21 verses.

Textual versions

Some most ancient manuscripts containing this chapter in Hebrew language:

• Masoretic Text (10th century)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[5][6]
  • 4Q80 (4QXII^e): extant: verses 4‑6, 8‑10, 13‑15^[5]
  • Wadi Murabba'at (MurXII): extant: verses 1‑4^[5]

Ancient translations in Koine Greek:

• Septuagint (3rd century BC)
• Dead Sea Scrolls: (2nd century BC)^[5]
  • Naḥal Ḥever (8ḤevXII^gr): extant: verses 1‑4, 12‑14, 19–21 (verses 2:2‑4 in Masoretic verse numbering)^[5]
• Theodotion version (~AD 180)

Structure

NKJV groups this chapter into:

• Zechariah 1:1–6 = A Call to Repentance
• Zechariah 1:7–11 = Vision of the Horses
• Zechariah 1:12–17 = The Lord Will Comfort Zion
• Zechariah 1:18–21 = Vision of the Horns

Verse 1

In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius,

came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet,

saying,^[7]

• "In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius" The date joins on Zechariah's prophecy to those of Haggai. Two months before, "in the sixth month" Haggai 1:1, had Haggai, conjointly with Zechariah Ezra 5:1–2, exhorted Zerubbabel and the people to resume the intermitted building of the temple. These had used such diligence, notwithstanding the partial discouragement of the Persian Government, that God gave them "in the seventh month" Ezra 5:3–5, the magnificent promise of the later glory of the temple through the coming of Christ Haggai 2:1–9. Still, as Haggai too warned them, the conversion was not complete. So Zechariah "in the eighth month", as Haggai "in the ninth month" (Haggai 2:10–14), urges upon them the necessity of thorough and inward repentance, as the condition of partaking of those promises.^[8]
• "The eighth month": This was called Bul before the Captivity (1 Kings 6:38), and afterwards Marchesvan (Josephus, 'Antiquities,' 1:3 3); it answered to parts of October and November, and was a time of rain. Haggai had first prophesied two months earlier.^[9]
• "The second year of Darius": 520 B.C.; not Darius the Mede,^[10] but Darius son of Hystaspes, and the third Persian monarch: see Haggai 1:1; and again Zechariah 1:15.^[11]
• "Zechariah": The name Zechariah means one whom Jehovah remembers: a common name, four others of the same name occurring in the Old Testament. Like Jeremiah and Ezekiel, he was a priest as well as a prophet, which adapts him for the sacerdotal character of some of his prophecies (Zechariah 6:13). He is called "the son of Berechiah the son of Iddo" (Zechariah 1:1); but simply "the son of Iddo" in Ezra 5:1; 6:14. Probably his father died when he was young; and hence, as sometimes occurs in Jewish genealogies, he is called "the son of Iddo," his grandfather. Iddo was one of the priests who returned to Zerubbabel and Joshua from Babylon (Nehemiah 12:4).^[11] He was murdered on a Day of Atonement in the Second Temple in Jerusalem, because of his admonishment, according to the Targum Lamentations 2:20.^[12] This was mentioned by Jesus Christ as recorded in Matthew 23:29–36: "...shedding the blood of the prophets... from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar..."^[13] There is another Zechariah son of the priest Jehoiada that was murdered as recorded in 2 Chronicles 24:20–21, but this Zechariah is from the 9th century, during the First Temple period, before the exile to Babylon, and he was killed by officials of Judah who wanted to worship pagan deities, not by priests.^[13]
• "the son of Iddo the prophet": the word "prophet", as Kimchi observes, belongs to Zechariah; not but that his grandfather Iddo might be a prophet too; and the same writer takes notice, that in the Midrash mention is made of Iddo the prophet; and so there is an Iddo that is called the seer and the prophet in 2 Chronicles 9:29.^[10]

Verse 7

Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius,

came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet,

saying,^[14]

• "the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month... in the second year of Darius": Exactly five months after the building of the temple was resumed Haggai 2:15, and two months after Haggai's last prophecy Haggai 2:20.^[8]
• "the month Sebat": The Hebrew month "Shevat" (called here by its Chaldean name) answered to parts of January and February.^[9] It was three months since Zechariah had been called to the prophetical office. Meantime Haggai had concluded his mission by uttering his final prophecies two months ago, and now Zechariah carries on the revelation.^[9] The term is Chaldee, meaning a "shoot," namely, the month when trees begin to "shoot" or "bud".^[11] Called Sabat in the Septuagint version, and in the Apocrypha (1 Maccabees 16:14).^[10]

Verse 12

Then the Angel of the Lord answered and said, “O Lord of hosts, how long will You not have mercy on Jerusalem and on the cities of Judah, against which You were angry these seventy years?” (NKJV)^[15]

Cross reference: Jeremiah 25:12, Jeremiah 29:10, Daniel 9:2, Zechariah 7:5

See also

• Related Bible parts: Ezra 5, Ezra 6, Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah 29, Daniel 9, Haggai 1, Haggai 2, Zechariah 2, Zechariah 3, Zechariah 4, Zechariah 5, Zechariah 6, Matthew 23, Revelation 6

Notes and references

Bibliography

External links

Jewish

• Zechariah 1 Hebrew with Parallel English
• Zechariah 1 Hebrew with Rashi's Commentary

Christian

• Zechariah 1 English Translation with Parallel Latin Vulgate