Old Testament · Prophecy (with apocalyptic visions)

The Book of Zechariah: Author, Context and Complete Study

Zechariah encouraged the returned exiles to finish the temple through eight night visions, a call to true justice and promises that God would return to Zion. Its last six chapters look ahead to a humble king, a rejected shepherd, a pierced one and the day when the Lord will be king over all the earth.

Updated on November 14, 2026

What is Zechariah about?

Zechariah is a book of visions and promises for the Jews rebuilding Jerusalem after the exile. Chapters 1-8 call the people to return to the Lord and, through eight night visions, assure them that God will rebuild his house, cleanse his priest and empower Zerubbabel by his Spirit (Zechariah 4:6). Chapters 9-14 announce a humble king riding on a donkey, a shepherd valued at thirty pieces of silver, a pierced one for whom Jerusalem mourns and the day when the Lord will be king over all the earth (14:9).

Author: Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo (1:1), a priest and prophet among the returned exiles. Many scholars assign chapters 9-14 to a later author; traditional readers hold that Zechariah wrote the whole book.
Date: Chapters 1-8 date from 520-518 BC, under Darius I; chapters 9-14 are undated, perhaps from later in Zechariah's life.
First readers: The Jews who had returned from Babylon to Jerusalem, rebuilding the temple under Zerubbabel and Joshua and wondering whether God's great promises would ever come true.
Genre: Prophecy (with apocalyptic visions)
Chapters: 14 chapters
Key verse: Zechariah 1:3

Historical context

Zechariah began to prophesy in the eighth month of the second year of Darius I (October-November 520 BC), two months after Haggai (Zechariah 1:1; Haggai 1:1). Eighteen years had passed since Cyrus allowed the exiles to return (Ezra 1), but Jerusalem was still largely in ruins, the temple had barely risen above its foundation and the community was small, poor and surrounded by hostile neighbors. Darius had just secured his throne after a series of revolts, and the empire seemed at rest (1:11) while Judah remained under foreign rule.

Zechariah's dated messages run from 520 to 518 BC (1:1, 7; 7:1), while the temple was being rebuilt; it was completed around 515 BC (Ezra 6:15). He came from a priestly family: his grandfather Iddo returned with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:4), and a Zechariah later headed the priestly house of Iddo (Nehemiah 12:16). Chapters 9-14 carry no dates. They mention Greece (9:13), which suggests to many readers a setting later in the Persian period, when the Greeks had become a power Persia had to fight, as at Marathon in 490 BC.

Geographical context

Jerusalem and its temple stand at the center of the book. Zechariah sees the city measured for rebuilding and promised to overflow its walls (2:1-5), and in chapter 14 he describes the Mount of Olives, east of the city, split in two (14:4), with living waters flowing from Jerusalem to the eastern and western seas (14:8), that is, the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. Chapter 7 opens with a delegation from Bethel, about 12 miles north of Jerusalem.

The visions also look outward, to the land of the north and the land of Shinar, that is, Babylon, where many Jews still lived (2:6-7; 5:11; 6:8). The oracle of 9:1-8 moves south from Hadrach, Damascus and Hamath in Syria to Tyre and Sidon on the Phoenician coast and the Philistine cities of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and Ashdod. Lebanon, Bashan and the Jordan appear in 11:1-3, and the plain of Megiddo, where King Josiah fell, in 12:11.

Why does the book of Zechariah exist?

Zechariah exists to rekindle hope in a discouraged people. The returned exiles had stopped building, the glories promised by earlier prophets seemed far away and the nations around them were at ease. Through the night visions God assures them that he is jealous for Jerusalem, that he has returned with mercy and that his house will be built (1:14-16), that the high priest can be cleansed and that the governor will finish the work, not by might nor by power but by his Spirit (3:1-4:10).

The book also insists that rebuilding stones is not enough. God calls the people to return to him (1:3), to practice true justice, kindness and mercy rather than empty fasting (7:9-10) and to speak truth to one another (8:16). Its later oracles lift the community's eyes beyond the second temple to the coming king, the rejected shepherd and the final day when the Lord will reign over all nations. Those chapters are among the Old Testament texts the Gospels cite most often in telling the story of Jesus' last week.

Outline of Zechariah

Chapters 1-2
Return to me: horsemen, horns and a measuring line
Zechariah calls the people not to repeat their fathers' stubbornness (1:1-6). In the first three night visions, horsemen find the earth at rest, four craftsmen cast down the horns that scattered Judah, and a man with a measuring line learns that Jerusalem will overflow its walls, protected by the Lord as a wall of fire.
- 1
- 2
Chapters 3-4
A cleansed priest and a lampstand of gold
Satan accuses Joshua the high priest, but the Lord rebukes him, removes Joshua's filthy garments and promises his servant the Branch. Then a golden lampstand fed by two olive trees shows that Zerubbabel will finish the temple, not by might or power but by God's Spirit.
- 3
- 4
Chapters 5-6
Scroll, basket, chariots and a crown
A huge flying scroll carries God's curse against thieves and perjurers, and a woman called Wickedness is carried off in a basket to Shinar. Four chariots go out to the four winds of heaven. The section ends with a crown placed on Joshua and the promise of the Branch, who will build the Lord's temple and unite priesthood and throne.
- 5
- 6
Chapters 7-8
True fasting and the joy of Zion
In 518 BC a delegation from Bethel asks whether to keep fasting for the destroyed temple. God calls instead for justice, kindness and mercy, recalls the fathers' hardened hearts and then promises to return to Zion: old people and children will fill its streets, fasts will become feasts and many nations will seek the Lord.
- 7
- 8
Chapters 9-10
The humble king and the gathering of the flock
God judges the cities from Hadrach to Philistia and guards his house. Zion's king comes righteous and humble, riding on a donkey, to speak peace to the nations. The Lord will rescue his scattered flock, raise up a cornerstone from Judah and bring his people home from Egypt and Assyria.
- 9
- 10
Chapter 11
The rejected good shepherd
Zechariah acts out the role of a shepherd caring for a flock doomed to slaughter, with two staffs called Favor and Union. The flock detests him and values him at thirty pieces of silver, which he throws to the potter in the house of the Lord. A worthless shepherd takes his place.
- 11
Chapters 12-13
The pierced one and the cleansing fountain
God will defend Jerusalem against the nations and pour out a spirit that brings grace and prayer for mercy, so that the people look to the one they pierced and mourn. A fountain will be opened to cleanse sin, false prophecy will end, the shepherd will be struck and a refined remnant will call on God's name.
- 12
- 13
Chapter 14
The day of the Lord and the King over all the earth
Nations attack Jerusalem, but the Lord fights for it and stands on the Mount of Olives, which splits in two. Living waters flow from Jerusalem, the Lord becomes king over all the earth, the survivors of the nations go up year after year to keep the Feast of Booths, and everything is holy to the Lord.
- 14

Famous passages in Zechariah

Zechariah 3:1-5
Joshua's filthy garments removed
In a heavenly courtroom Satan stands to accuse Joshua the high priest, who is dressed in filthy garments. The Lord rebukes the accuser, calls Joshua a brand plucked from the fire and orders his garments replaced with clean ones and a clean turban on his head. It is one of the Old Testament's clearest pictures of forgiveness as a gift.
Study Zechariah 3 →
Zechariah 4:6-10
The Spirit, not human strength
The vision of the golden lampstand explains how Zerubbabel will finish the temple: not by military might or human power but by the Spirit of the Lord. The great mountain of obstacles will become a plain, the hands that laid the foundation will complete the house, and no one should despise the day of small things. Verse 6 is one of the most quoted verses of the prophets.
Study Zechariah 4 →
Zechariah 8:20-23
The nations seek the Lord
Zechariah foresees peoples and inhabitants of many cities urging one another to go and seek the Lord in Jerusalem. Ten men from nations of every language will take hold of the robe of a Jew and ask to go with him, because they have heard that God is with his people. The promise anticipates the gospel reaching the nations.
Study Zechariah 8 →
Zechariah 9:9-10
Zion's king on a donkey
Zion is called to rejoice because her king is on his way, just and victorious yet gentle, riding a donkey's colt. He will remove the chariot and the war horse and speak peace to the nations, ruling from sea to sea. Matthew 21:5 and John 12:15 quote the passage when Jesus rides into Jerusalem in his triumphal entry.
Study Zechariah 9 →
Zechariah 11:12-13
Thirty pieces of silver
When the shepherd asks for his wages, the people weigh out thirty pieces of silver, the compensation for a slave in Exodus 21:32. God calls it, with irony, a lordly price, and the shepherd throws it to the potter in the house of the Lord. Matthew 27:9-10 sees this fulfilled when Judas returned the money and the priests bought the potter's field.
Study Zechariah 11 →
Zechariah 12:10
They will look on the one they pierced
God promises to pour out on David's house and on Jerusalem a spirit that brings grace and prayer for mercy; they will look to the one they pierced and grieve as parents grieve for an only child. Strikingly, the Lord himself speaks of being pierced. John 19:37 applies the verse to the crucifixion, and Revelation 1:7 to Christ's return.
Study Zechariah 12 →
Zechariah 13:7-9
Strike the shepherd
God calls the sword to awake against his shepherd, the man who stands next to him: the shepherd will be struck and the sheep scattered. A third of the people will be refined like silver and tested like gold; they will call on God, and he will call them his people. Jesus quotes verse 7 on the night of his arrest (Matthew 26:31; Mark 14:27).
Study Zechariah 13 →
Zechariah 14:4-9
The Lord stands on the Mount of Olives
On the day of the Lord his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which will split from east to west into a wide valley. Living waters will flow from Jerusalem in summer and winter, and the Lord will be king over all the earth: he alone will be worshiped, and his name will be the only name. Many connect it with Jesus' ascension from that mountain (Acts 1:11-12).
Study Zechariah 14 →

Main themes

Return and restoration: The book opens with God's call to return to him and his promise to return to his people (1:3), and later he declares that he has returned to Zion (8:3). The restoration of the city and the temple is inseparable from the restoration of hearts.
The Spirit and the rebuilding of God's house: Zechariah encourages Zerubbabel and Joshua to finish the temple, small as it seems (4:9-10). The work depends on the Spirit of the Lord, not on military or political power (4:6), and God himself promises to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem (2:10).
Cleansing from sin: Joshua's filthy garments are removed (3:4), wickedness is carried away to Shinar (5:5-11), iniquity will be removed in a single day (3:9) and a fountain will be opened to cleanse sin and uncleanness (13:1). God does not only rebuild his people; he purifies them.
Justice over ritual: Asked about fasting, God answers with ethics: true justice, kindness and mercy, and no oppression of the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or the poor (7:9-10; 8:16-17). Religious observance without these is empty, a lesson the fathers refused to hear (7:11-12).
The messianic king and shepherd: Zechariah weaves royal and priestly hopes together: the Branch who builds the temple and sits as priest on his throne (6:12-13), the humble king on a donkey (9:9), the rejected shepherd (11:12-13), the pierced one (12:10) and the struck shepherd (13:7). The Gospels see all of them in Jesus.
The Lord's reign over all nations: God's plan includes the nations: many will join themselves to the Lord (2:11), seek him in Jerusalem (8:22) and worship the King year after year (14:16). The book ends with the Lord king over all the earth and even ordinary cooking pots holy to him (14:9, 20-21).

Main characters

Zechariah: Prophet from a priestly family, son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo (1:1; Ezra 5:1). He received the night visions in 519 BC and encouraged the rebuilding alongside Haggai. His name means the Lord remembers.
Joshua the high priest: Son of Jehozadak and head of the priesthood after the exile. In 3:1-5 he stands accused before the angel of the Lord and is cleansed, and in 6:11 he receives a symbolic crown that points to the coming Branch.
Zerubbabel: Governor of Judah and descendant of David. God promises that the hands that laid the foundation of the temple will also complete it, not by might or power but by his Spirit (4:6-10).
The angel who talked with me: The interpreting angel who guides Zechariah through the night visions, asking what he sees and explaining their meaning (1:9; 4:1-5). He is distinct from the angel of the Lord, who intercedes for Jerusalem (1:12).
The angel of the Lord: A heavenly figure who stands among the myrtle trees, pleads for mercy on Jerusalem (1:12) and presides over Joshua's trial (3:1-6). He speaks and acts with the Lord's own authority, and many interpreters see in him an appearance of the Son before his incarnation.
Satan: The accuser, whose title means adversary, who stands at Joshua's right hand to accuse him (3:1). The Lord rebukes him, and his accusation fails because God has chosen Jerusalem and cleansed his priest.
The Branch: A royal title for the coming descendant of David, drawn from Jeremiah 23:5 and 33:15. In Zechariah he is God's servant (3:8) who will build the temple of the Lord and rule as a priest on his throne (6:12-13).
The good shepherd and the worthless shepherd: In chapter 11 Zechariah plays a shepherd who cares for a doomed flock but is rejected and valued at thirty pieces of silver; then a worthless shepherd who deserts the flock takes his place (11:15-17). The contrast reappears when Jesus calls himself the good shepherd (John 10:11).
The delegation from Bethel: Sharezer, Regem-melech and their men, sent to ask the priests and prophets whether the fast of the fifth month should continue (7:2-3). Their question about ritual opens God's call to justice and mercy in chapters 7-8.

In-depth study of Zechariah

Introduction

Zechariah is the longest and, many would say, the most demanding of the twelve Minor Prophets. Its fourteen chapters contain visions of horses and chariots, a flying scroll and a woman in a basket, symbolic actions and some of the most important messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, his betrayal for thirty pieces of silver, the scattering of his disciples and his piercing on the cross are all told in the Gospels with words from Zechariah.

Yet the book was first a word of encouragement to a small group of returned exiles. Zechariah told them that God had not forgotten Jerusalem: he was jealous for it, had returned to it with mercy and would finish the work he had begun. The prophet's name, the Lord remembers, sums up the message.

Who wrote Zechariah and when?

The prophet

Zechariah is introduced as son of Berechiah, son of Iddo (1:1). Ezra calls him son of Iddo (Ezra 5:1; 6:14), probably because Iddo was the better-known head of the family. Nehemiah lists Iddo among the priests who returned with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:4) and a Zechariah as head of Iddo's priestly family a generation later (Nehemiah 12:16). Zechariah was therefore both priest and prophet, like Jeremiah and Ezekiel before him.

Dates in chapters 1-8

1:1, the eighth month of the second year of Darius (October-November 520 BC): the call to return.
1:7, the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, Shebat (February 15, 519 BC): the night visions.
7:1, the fourth day of the ninth month, Chislev, in the fourth year of Darius (December 7, 518 BC): the question about fasting.

The question of chapters 9-14

The last six chapters are introduced by the heading oracle of the word of the Lord (9:1; 12:1), the same heading found in Malachi 1:1. They have no dates, no night visions and no mention of Zerubbabel, Joshua or the building of the temple; they speak of Greece (9:13), of shepherds and of a coming king. For these reasons many modern scholars attribute them to one or more later authors. Others defend the unity of the book: both halves share themes such as Jerusalem's restoration, cleansing from sin and the nations coming to worship; differences of style can be explained by a change of subject and of time; and Greece was already a known adversary of Persia within Zechariah's lifetime. Christian readers have traditionally received the whole book as Zechariah's.

Literary style and structure

Visions with an interpreter

Chapters 1-6 use the language of apocalyptic vision: Zechariah sees strange scenes, asks what they mean and an angel explains. He shares this pattern with Daniel, and Revelation later borrows many of his images.

A carefully arranged series of visions

Many readers note that the eight visions mirror one another. The first and the last feature horses patrolling the earth (1:8-11; 6:1-8). The second, third, sixth and seventh deal with judgment on the nations, the protection of Jerusalem and the removal of evil from the land. At the center, the fourth and fifth visions focus on the two leaders, Joshua the priest and Zerubbabel the governor (chapters 3-4).

Sermons, oracles and a symbolic act

Chapters 7-8 are sermons in prose, with a series of short promises in chapter 8, each introduced by the words thus says the Lord. Chapters 9-10 are mostly poetry, and chapter 11 contains a symbolic action in which the prophet plays the part of a shepherd. The phrase on that day returns again and again in chapters 12-14.

Outline

Call to return (1:1-6)
Eight night visions and the crowning of Joshua (1:7-6:15)
Fasting and the future of Zion (7-8)
First oracle: the coming king and the rejected shepherd (9-11)
Second oracle: the pierced one and the day of the Lord (12-14)

Zechariah in the story of the Bible

Zechariah stands with Haggai in the years of the rebuilding of the temple (Ezra 5-6) and draws heavily on earlier prophets, whose warnings the fathers had ignored (1:4; 7:7, 12). The seventy years of 1:12 and 7:5 recall Jeremiah 25:11-12 and 29:10; the Branch comes from Jeremiah 23:5 and 33:15; the shepherd imagery develops Ezekiel 34; and the living waters flowing from Jerusalem echo Ezekiel 47:1-12.

The New Testament cites or alludes to Zechariah often. Beyond the Gospel quotations, Revelation borrows its colored horses (Revelation 6:1-8; compare Zechariah 1:8; 6:2-3), its two olive trees and two lampstands (Revelation 11:4), its seven eyes (Revelation 5:6) and its pierced one (Revelation 1:7). Jude 1:9 echoes the rebuke of Satan in Zechariah 3:2. Zechariah's promise that there will never again be a decree of destruction against Jerusalem (14:11) finds an echo in Revelation 22:3, where nothing accursed remains.

Zechariah and Jesus Christ

The humble king. Zechariah 9:9 describes a king who comes humble and riding on a donkey. Matthew 21:4-5 and John 12:14-15 show Jesus deliberately fulfilling it as he enters Jerusalem.
The Branch, priest and king. The Branch will build the temple, bear royal honor and sit as a priest on his throne (6:12-13). Hebrews presents Jesus as the high priest who sits at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven (Hebrews 8:1).
The shepherd sold and struck. Judas is paid thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15), later used to buy the potter's field (Matthew 27:9-10), and Jesus applies the striking of the shepherd to his own arrest and the flight of the disciples (Matthew 26:31).
The pierced one. John saw a soldier pierce Jesus' side and cited Zechariah 12:10: they will look on him whom they have pierced (John 19:34-37).
The fountain for cleansing. The fountain opened for sin and uncleanness (13:1) finds its fulfillment in the cleansing that Jesus' blood brings (1 John 1:7).
Living water. On the last day of the Feast of Booths, Jesus offered rivers of living water to all who believe (John 7:37-39). Many see Zechariah 14, with its living waters and its Feast of Booths (14:8, 16), in the background.
The coming King. The Lord who will stand on the Mount of Olives and reign over all the earth (14:4, 9) points to the return of Christ, when the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ (Revelation 11:15).

Interpretive challenges

Why does Matthew quote Jeremiah?

Matthew 27:9-10 introduces a prophecy of Jeremiah, but the thirty pieces of silver and the potter come from Zechariah 11:12-13. Matthew seems to combine Zechariah with Jeremiah's episodes of the potter's house and the purchased field (Jeremiah 18-19; 32:6-15) and to name the more prominent prophet, as Mark does with Isaiah in Mark 1:2-3. Some also point out that Jeremiah sometimes stood first in ancient Jewish lists of the prophetic books.

Who are the two anointed ones?

In the vision of the lampstand, two olive trees supply oil, and the angel calls them the two anointed ones, literally sons of oil, who stand by the Lord of the whole earth (4:14). Most identify them with Joshua and Zerubbabel, the priest and the governor through whom God sustained the community. Revelation 11:4 takes up the image for its two witnesses.

How should chapter 14 be read?

Some read it as literal events in Jerusalem connected with Christ's return and a future reign on earth. Others understand it as prophetic imagery that describes God's final victory and the new creation in the language of Israel's worship. Some also see a partial fulfillment in the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. All agree on the main message: the Lord will reign over all the earth, and his people and his city will be holy.

Do the wounds of 13:6 speak of Christ?

The verse is sometimes applied to Jesus, but in its context it describes a former false prophet who explains away his scars, probably self-inflicted in pagan rites (compare 1 Kings 18:28), as wounds received in the house of his friends. Christ is better seen in the struck shepherd of the very next verse (13:7).

Little-known facts

Zechariah 2:12 is one of the very few verses in the Bible that call Israel's territory the holy land.
With 211 verses, Zechariah is the longest of the twelve Minor Prophets.
More than twenty different men in the Old Testament are called Zechariah, including a king of Israel (2 Kings 15:8) and a priest stoned in the temple court (2 Chronicles 24:20-22).
The thirty pieces of silver match the compensation owed for a slave gored by an ox in Exodus 21:32.
The words Holy to the Lord, engraved on the gold plate of the high priest's turban (Exodus 28:36), will one day be written even on the bells of horses (14:20).
The earthquake in the days of King Uzziah (14:5) is the same one by which Amos dated his ministry (Amos 1:1); it was still remembered more than two centuries later.

How to study Zechariah

Reading plan

At one chapter a day, Zechariah takes two weeks. For a group, eight sessions work well: the call and the first three visions (1-2), Joshua and the lampstand (3-4), the last visions and the crown (5-6), fasting and the future of Zion (7-8), the humble king (9-10), the rejected shepherd (11), the pierced one (12-13) and the day of the Lord (14).

What to look for

In each vision: what Zechariah sees, what he asks and how the angel explains it.
Repeated words: return, jealous, in your midst and, in chapters 12-14, on that day.
The New Testament quotations: read each Gospel passage next to its text in Zechariah.
The ethical center of the book in 7:9-10 and 8:16-17.

Teaching it in a Sunday school class or small group

Keep each vision anchored to the explanation the angel gives, and resist speculation about details the text does not explain. Let the New Testament guide the messianic readings. With children, focus on 4:6 (God works by his Spirit), 8:4-5 (streets full of old people and children playing) and 9:9 (the king on a donkey). With adults and youth groups, read chapters 9-14 together with the accounts of Jesus' last week in the Gospels and ask how Zechariah helps us understand the cross and the hope of Christ's return.

Zechariah chapter by chapter

Every chapter of Zechariah with a summary, key verses explained, themes, people, questions with answers and application.

Frequently asked questions about Zechariah

Who wrote the book of Zechariah?

The book names Zechariah son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, as the prophet (1:1); Ezra calls him the son of Iddo, probably meaning his grandson (Ezra 5:1). Chapters 1-8 clearly come from him. Chapters 9-14 have a different style, no dates and no mention of the prophet, so many scholars assign them to one or more later authors, while traditional interpreters hold that Zechariah wrote them later in his ministry.

When was Zechariah written?

Chapters 1-8 are dated between 520 and 518 BC, in the second and fourth years of Darius I, while the temple was being rebuilt (1:1, 7; 7:1). Chapters 9-14 are undated. Those who see them as Zechariah's own place them later in his life, perhaps after 480 BC, when Greece had become a major rival of Persia (9:13); others date them later still.

What is the main message of Zechariah?

God has returned to his people with mercy and calls them to return to him. He will cleanse them, complete his house by his Spirit and fill Jerusalem with life. Beyond the rebuilding, he promises a humble king, a rejected and pierced shepherd, cleansing from sin and the day when the Lord will be king over all the earth and the nations will worship him.

How many chapters does Zechariah have and how is it organized?

Zechariah has fourteen chapters and 211 verses, the longest of the twelve Minor Prophets. Chapters 1-6 contain a call to repentance and eight night visions; chapters 7-8 answer a question about fasting with calls to justice and promises for Zion; chapters 9-14 contain two oracles, one about the coming king and the rejected shepherd (9-11) and one about the pierced one and the day of the Lord (12-14).

What are the eight night visions of Zechariah?

In one night (1:7) Zechariah sees a rider among myrtle trees (1:8-17), four horns and four craftsmen (1:18-21), a man with a measuring line (2:1-13), Joshua the high priest cleansed (3:1-10), a golden lampstand and two olive trees (4:1-14), a flying scroll (5:1-4), a woman in a basket (5:5-11) and four chariots (6:1-8). Together they promise judgment on the nations, the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the cleansing of God's people.

Where does Zechariah prophesy about Jesus?

The Gospels quote Zechariah several times: the king riding on a donkey (9:9; Matthew 21:5; John 12:15), the thirty pieces of silver (11:12-13; Matthew 27:9-10), the shepherd struck and the sheep scattered (13:7; Matthew 26:31) and the one they pierced (12:10; John 19:37). The Branch who unites priest and king (6:12-13) is also read as a portrait of Christ.

Why does Matthew say Jeremiah when quoting Zechariah?

Matthew 27:9-10 attributes to Jeremiah a prophecy that mostly echoes Zechariah 11:12-13. Many explain that Matthew combines Zechariah's thirty pieces of silver with Jeremiah's potter and purchased field (Jeremiah 18-19; 32:6-15) and names the more prominent prophet, much as Mark 1:2-3 names Isaiah while quoting Malachi and Isaiah together. Others note that an old Jewish listing placed Jeremiah first among the prophetic books.

What does the splitting of the Mount of Olives in Zechariah 14 mean?

Zechariah 14:4 says that on the day of the Lord his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives and it will split from east to west. Some readers expect a literal event at Christ's return, connecting it with Acts 1:11-12, where Jesus ascends from that mountain with the promise that he will come back the same way. Others read the chapter as prophetic imagery for God's final victory and the renewal of creation. Both see its goal in the Lord reigning over all the earth (14:9).