Zechariah

No. 397 Zechariah 6:1-7
Zechariah sees a strange vision: four chariots coming out from between two mountains of bronze, drawn by horses of different colors, red, black, white, and dappled, all of them strong. When he asks the angel...
No. 438 Zechariah 8:1-5
After the exile, when Jerusalem lay largely in ruins and its people were beaten down and few, God speaks a promise through Zechariah about what he will make of the city. It begins with intensity: I am jealous...
No. 543 Zechariah 14:12-21
The end of Zechariah is strange and hard, full of plague and panic falling on the nations that warred against Jerusalem, imagery I will not pretend is comfortable. But out of all that upheaval the prophecy...
No. 578 Zechariah 12:6-14
In this vision of the future, God promises to defend and rescue Jerusalem, and then he describes something happening in the people's hearts that is deeper than any military victory. I will pour out on the...
No. 642 Zechariah 13:1-9
This chapter opens with a beautiful promise: on that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. And it closes with an image of how...
No. 660 Zechariah 9:1-17
Zechariah is a prophet of the years after the exile, when the temple is being rebuilt. Chapter 9 opens as an oracle of judgment marching down the coast, against Hadrach and Damascus, against Tyre that heaped...
No. 764 Zechariah 1:7-11
Zechariah prophesies among the discouraged people who have come back from exile to a half-built temple and a broken city, and one night he is given the first of eight strange visions. He sees a man mounted on...
No. 1015 Zechariah 1:1-6
Zechariah begins his prophecy to the exiles who have returned to a ruined Jerusalem, and God's first word is an invitation wrapped in a warning. The LORD was very angry with your fathers, he says, so do not be...
No. 1167 Zechariah 5:1-5
Zechariah sees a strange vision: a giant scroll, thirty feet long and fifteen wide, flying through the air. The angel explains that it is the curse going out over the whole land, condemning two sins in...
No. 1206 Zechariah 2:1-5
Zechariah sees a man setting out with a measuring line to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and long it is. But before he can, an angel stops him with a message for the young surveyor: Jerusalem will be...
No. 1257 Zechariah 11:1-6
Zechariah pronounces a dark oracle. He calls the cedars of Lebanon and the oaks of Bashan to wail, for the great forest has come down, and the shepherds to howl, for their glory is ruined. Then God gives him a...
No. 1300 Zechariah 14:1-5
Zechariah prophesies a coming day of the LORD. He describes a terrible siege: all nations gathered against Jerusalem, the city taken, houses plundered, half the people going into exile. But then God himself...
No. 1425 Zechariah 7:8-14
The word of the LORD comes to Zechariah with a plain summary of what God asks: render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another, do not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the foreigner, or the...
No. 1525 Zechariah 4:1-5
The angel wakes Zechariah as from sleep and asks what he sees. He describes a vision: a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on top and seven lamps, and seven pipes running to the lamps; and beside it two olive...
No. 1632 Zechariah 5:6-11
Zechariah is shown a strange vision: a large basket, and in it, under a heavy lead cover, sits a woman. The angel says, this is Wickedness, and thrusts her down into the basket and claps the lead weight over...
No. 1705 Zechariah 8:6-13
To a small, discouraged remnant rebuilding after exile, God speaks words of encouragement. Though this may seem impossible to the remnant, he says, is it impossible for me? He promises to save his people from...
No. 1992 Zechariah 4:6-14
As Zerubbabel faces the daunting task of rebuilding the temple, God gives him a word through Zechariah: not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of Armies. The great mountain of obstacles...
No. 2165 Zechariah 12:1-5
Zechariah opens a prophecy with a description of the God who speaks it, and the description holds together two things we might keep apart. This is the word of the LORD, he says, who stretches out the heavens...
No. 2671 Zechariah 2:6-13
Zechariah calls the exiles to come home from Babylon, and in the middle of the summons God says something startling about how he regards his people: he who touches you touches the apple of his eye. To harm...
No. 2989 Zechariah 1:12-16
The angel of the LORD gives voice to the question on every heart: O LORD of Hosts, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy...
No. 3093 Zechariah 7:1-7
The people send messengers to ask the priests and prophets a question: should we keep mourning and fasting in the fifth month, as we have done for so many years now? But God, through Zechariah, does not answer...
No. 3115 Zechariah 8:14-23
God announces a change of heart toward his people: as I purposed to bring disaster when your fathers provoked me, so now I purpose to do good to Jerusalem; do not be afraid. And then come the commands that fit...
No. 3121 Zechariah 11:7-17
In a strange, dark, symbolic action, the prophet shepherds the doomed flock with two staffs, Favor and Union, and then breaks them. The flock detests him; so he asks for his wages, and they weigh out thirty...
No. 3147 Zechariah 14:6-11
Zechariah sees a transformed future. There will be a unique day, neither ordinary day nor night, and at evening time there will be light. Living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, toward the eastern and the...
No. 3313 Zechariah 6:8-15
Zechariah is told to make a crown and set it on the head of Joshua the high priest, a striking act, for crowns belonged to kings, not priests. And the prophecy explains it: behold, the man whose name is the...
No. 3380 Zechariah 3:1-5
This is a vivid picture of grace. Joshua the high priest stands before the LORD in filthy garments, and Satan stands at his right hand to accuse him, for the filth is real; his guilt is not imaginary. But the...
No. 3465 Zechariah 3:6-10
After cleansing and reclothing Joshua the high priest, God gives him both a charge and a promise. The charge: if you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall govern my house. Grace comes first,...
No. 3745 Zechariah 10:1-12
Zechariah rebukes the people for seeking help from idols and diviners, empty comforts that leave them wandering like sheep without a shepherd. Ask rain of the LORD, he says, the true source of every good gift,...
No. 4280 Zechariah 1:17-21
Zechariah brings a word of hope to a people recently returned from exile, still surrounded by rubble and discouragement: the LORD says, my cities shall again overflow with prosperity; the LORD will again...