Zechariah

Related Category: Old Testament

(zĕk´´ərī´ə), prophetic book of the Bible, which dates from 520 B.C.–518 B.C. at Jerusalem. The prophet was associated with Haggai in a movement to restore the Temple. The book, after an introduction, proceeds with eight visions, prophetic of the restitution of Israel, and a symbolic crowning of the high priest. An address follows on the observance of the commandments and the rewards for doing so. The remainder of Zechariah, very different in tone, consists of prophecies concerning trouble and threat from invading armies and the eventual redemption of Jerusalem. Scholars date this section to a later period (4th or 3d cent. B.C.).

See studies by F. A. Tafford (1971), J. Baldwin (1972), and C. and M. Myers (1987).