Zechariah 8 Visions Verses 1-8 | Let’s turn to Zechariah 8 in our Bibles.

The 8th chapter of the book of Zechariah is where

Now, the original question that the Jews asked the priests is this: “Should we keep fasting to commemorate and mourn the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by Babylon in 586 BC?”

And God’s first response could be summarized like this: “Your fasting wasn’t right, you did it for yourself, you did not love me with all your heart and (by implication) this is why your temple was destroyed which is why you have been fasting these 70 years in the first place.”

Then God’s second response was something like this: “Historically you people have been unloving to your neighbor and this is yet another reason why your temple was destroyed which is the reality that has caused you to fast.”

And now, we’re going to see the first part of God’s third

Now, where God’s first two responses were essentially

So, let’s read Zechariah 8:1-17 in its entirety.

[Read Zec 8:1-17…]

Now, we notice that this is indeed a new response from the

KJV Zechariah 8:1 ¶ [Again/Then/And] the word of the LORD [of hosts/who rules over all/Almighty] came to me, [saying/as follows],

And we’ve seen that this is how each of these four answers

And here is how the Lord begins this third response to their

2 [Thus saith/X Says this/This is what X says] the LORD [of hosts/who rules over all/Almighty];

I [was/am/have been] [jealous for Zion with great jealousy/exceedingly jealous for Zion/very much concerned for Zion/very jealous for Zion],

[and I/yes, I/indeed, I] [was/am] jealous for her with great [fury/wrath]. [i.e., so concerned for her that my rage will fall on those who hurt her…]

So, the Lord begins by focusing on his emotions toward his

And this jealousy of God for his people morphs into another

Now, the Jews had been fasting since the destruction of the

Zechariah 7 Commentary Verses 8-14: Let’s turn our attention to Zechariah 7.

We’ll be continuing today in a section that began in the first verse of this chapter with a question. A few of the Jews had been sent by others to ask whether they should continue to mourn and fast commemorating the destruction of their temple around 70 years prior to this point.

And they get their answer. Well, they get four installments

Last time, we saw the first response that God gave to their

And that first response basically probed the nature of their

In other words, because God had sent them to Jerusalem to

And that brings us to God’s second response to their

[Read Zec 7:8-14…]

So, this section breaks down into three major parts.

We have God’s original message to the Israelites of old –

Then God details their response to that original message.

And finally, in this section we have God reminding these

So, let’s look at God’s original message that went unheeded

8 ¶ [And/Then/Again] the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah, saying,

9 [Thus speaketh/Thus has X said/X said] the LORD [of hosts/who rules over all/Almighty], saying,

So, the following content is something that God had already

[Execute/Dispense/Exercise/Administer/Judge] [true/righteous (LXX)] [judgment/justice],

and [shew mercy/practice kindness/show brotherhood/deal mercifully] and compassions [every man to his brother/to each other/to one another]:

10 And oppress not the widow, nor the [fatherless/orphan], the [stranger/foreigner/alien], nor the poor;

[and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart./and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another.’/nor should anyone secretly plot evil against his fellow human being.’

Zechariah 7 Commentary Verses 1-7: Let’s turn our attention to the 7th chapter of the book of the Old Testament prophet Zechariah.

Zechariah 7 begins a new section in this book. Up to this

And part of that turning of God to his people has been all

But today in chapter 7 we start into new material. Because

So, let’s read the section that we’ll cover today – verses

[Read Zec 7:1-7…]

Now, let’s just notice this first verse once more. It serves

KJV Zechariah 7:1 ¶ And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Darius, that the word of the LORD came unto Zechariah in the fourth day of the ninth month, [even in/which is] [Chisleu/Chislev/Kislev];

Now, there are a number of events in the Old Testament

When Darius became king of Babylon or Medo-Persia, finally

We see mention of temple activity start back up again under

It was actually in the first year of King Darius that Daniel

The prophet Haggai gave three prophecies in the 2nd year of

And the prophet whose book we’re now studying has already

And so now in this chapter we start to see material that is

So, the setting to this section is that we’re in Year 4;

And here’s what happened at that time in Zechariah’s life.

2 [When/Now] [they/the people of] [had sent unto/sent] [the house of God/Bethel] Sherezer and Regemmelech, and their [men/companions], to [pray before/seek the favor of/entreat] the LORD,

Now, this is saying either that people sent these men to “the

And this confusion is due to the fact that “Beth-El”

So, some tra

Let’s turn our attention once more to the 6th

There’s no question that Zechariah 6 contains the last

Was the vision that we studied last time with the chariots

Or is the last vision in this book within the material that

So, let’s read Zechariah 6:9-15 and then I’ll try to show

[Read Zec 6:9-15…]

So, let’s read verse 9 one more time in order to see one

KJV Zechariah 6:9 ¶ [And the/The] word of the LORD [came/also came] [unto/to] [me, saying,/me as follows:/me:]

There it is. Here’s one reason I think this is the last

Because we see this exact phrase in Zechariah 4:8, which is

Or maybe this section is simply a continuation of all of the

But there’s another factor that leads us to believe that

We have the first time reference in chapter 1 verse 1. You

The second time reference is just a few verses later in

And that leads us to the third and last time reference in

Where the last time reference is found is after verse 15 –

So, for these reasons in my estimation, we’re still in

Today we’ll be entering into the sixth chapter of the Old Testament minor prophet Zechariah. So, let’s turn our attention there to Zechariah, chapter 6. 

And when we open to this chapter, we see what is possibly the last of Zechariah’s night visions. There might be one more after this one, but at the very least, we’re getting toward the end of the visions. 

And so, let’s read Zechariah 6:1-8 and then we’ll get into the details of each verse. 

[Read Zec 6:1-8…] 

So, to begin this vision, Zechariah describes for us what he sees in verse 1. 

KJV Zechariah 6:1 ¶ [And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked,/Now I lifted up my eyes again and looked,/Once more I looked,/I looked up again–] and, [behold,/this time I saw/there before me were]  

[there came four chariots out/four chariots were coming forth/four chariots emerging/four chariots coming out] from between [two/the two] mountains;  

and the mountains were mountains of [brass/bronze]. 

So, in this book of Zechariah we saw four horns in one of the visions. Those horns were being pursued by four craftsmen or smiths. We’ve also had the Lord declare that he had scattered the Jews to the four winds of heaven – to every direction on earth. 

And now here in this vision we have four chariots. 

Now, this mention of chariots reminds us of Habakkuk 3:8 where that prophet states that the Lord has horses that he rides on and chariots of salvation. And we’re going to see in this passage that these chariots have horses and that they are indeed the Lord’s. And I think that we’ll also see that these chariot are definitely chariots of salvation – of help – for God’s people the Jews. 

Now, these chariots are doing something. Zechariah sees that they “came out.” That’s the action that we saw the basket doing in our last vision. That’s what the flying scroll was doing. These chariots are going out just like those other items. 

And they’re performing this action of “going out” from between two bronze mountains. The chariots are apparently behind those two mountains as the vision starts and then they come out from behind them and become visible to the prophet in his vision. 

So, picture this. Four chariots come driving out from between two mountains. And these mountains aren’t made of dirt and grass and trees. They’re made of this hard solid material we call bronze – which in the world of the Old Testament was one of the hardest materials available. 

And so, with that much of the scene presented to us, we now have Zechariah explain for us that these chariots are led by multiple horses – each of a different color. 

2 [In the/With the/Harnessed to the/The] first chariot [were/had] red horses;  

[and in/with/to] the second chariot black horses; 

3 [And in/with/to] the third chariot white horses;  

and [in

Zechariah 5 Commentary: We’re going to be studying the second vision recorded in the fifth chapter of the book of Zechariah. So, let’s turn our attention to Zechariah 5.

You may recall that in verses 1-4 last time we saw a vision

So, that section was about God dealing with sins in the land

So, let’s read Zechariah 5:5-11 first and then study it in

[Read Zec 5:5-11…]

So, to begin this new vision we see an angel telling

5 ¶ [Then/After this/And] the [angel/angelic messenger] [that/who] [talked/was speaking/had been speaking] [with/to] me [went forth/went out/came forward], and [said unto me/said],

[Lift up now thine eyes,/Look,] [and see/see] what [is this that/is] [goeth forth/leaving/is appearing].

So, the action of this thing that the angel draws Zechariah’s

So, the angel that has been leading Zechariah through all of

Probably leaving the land of Israel.

Just like the scroll in the last vision was – I believe –

Well, don’t you wonder what this thing is? Zechariah does

6 [And I/I] [said/asked],

What is it?

And I think it’s amazing that even as Zechariah is looking

And we’ve seen Zechariah express this kind of confusion

Yet, here in this passage, I think the prophet actually

And so, the angel needs to explain it.

And so, as part of the explanation, the angel begins by

[And he/He] [said/replied],

[This is/It is] [an ephah/the ephah/a basket for measuring grain/a measuring basket/the measure (LXX)] [that goeth forth/going forth/that is moving away from here].

An ephah (that’s a

Zechariah 5 Commentary: We’re going to study Zechariah’s 6th vision today. So, turn your attention to the 5th chapter of the book of Zechariah.

We’ll be studying the first four verses of Zechariah 5. And

So, let’s read the entire 5th chapter of

[Read Zec 5…]

So, to begin, we just read about what Zechariah saw. Let’s

KJV Zechariah 5:1 ¶ Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and [behold/there before me was] a flying [roll/scroll/LXX: sickle].

So, this new vision begins with the prophet Zechariah coming

And what did he see but a flying roll!

Now, I wouldn’t doubt that there would be some who would

The word “roll” is the word used by the KJV to speak of a

And I’ll just mention this because it’s interesting to me – the

And one last thing about this scroll – you might actually

And this scroll is not set neatly on a table. It’s not

So, this is what Zechariah sees. A scroll that is flying.

Alright, now all of a sudden someone talks to Zechariah

2 [And he said unto/Someone asked/He asked] me,

What [seest thou/do you see]?

Now, we’ve heard this question before asked by the angel

Zechariah 4 Meaning: We’ll be studying the second half of Zechariah’s 5th prophecy today. So, let’s turn our attention to Zechariah chapter 4 – the fourth chapter of the Old Testament minor prophet Zechariah.

Last time we studied the first seven verses of this chapter.

First, Zechariah needs to be awakened by the angel that’s

Well, then the angel asks Zechariah what he sees in this new

Zechariah answers that he sees a golden candlestick or in

It seems to me that there’s a column in the middle with the

The layout of the lamps is the kind of controversial part.

Also, this menorah is like the ones that would have been

Then Zechariah saw two olive trees – one on either side of

This sight prompts Zechariah to inquire about the meaning of

The angel then expresses some amazement that Zechariah

So, the angel explains that this vision is meant to

The Lord then compares the task of rebuilding the temple to

So, that gets us through verse 7 of this chapter.

Let’s read verses 8-14 and then study the details of the

[Read Zec 4:8-14]

So, the message that the Lord had started in verses 6 and 7

8 [Moreover/Also/Then/And] the word of the LORD came [unto me, saying,/to me, saying/to me as follows/to me]

So, here’s something else that the Lord wants to communicate

And it has to do once more with the rebuilding of the

9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the [foundation/foundations] of this [house/temple];
his hands [shall/will] [also/and x] [fin

Zechariah 4 Commentary: We’re going to be studying the fifth vision given to Zechariah. So, let’s turn our attention to the 4th chapter of that book – Zechariah chapter 4. 

We’ll cover only the first 7 verses of this chapter today, but let’s go ahead and read the whole chapter for context. 

[Read Zec 4] 

So, the first thing we discover in this new vision is that Zechariah has fallen asleep and that he needs to be awakened. 

KJV Zechariah 4:1 ¶ [And/Then] the [angel/angelic messenger] [that talked/who was speaking/who had been speaking/who talked] with me [came again/returned/then returned], and [waked/roused/woke/wakened/awakened] me, as [when…] a [man/person] that is [wakened/awakened] [out of his/from his/from] sleep, 

Now, it’s hard to know why Zechariah had fallen asleep here. It’s not that he was bored with what he was seeing. We already saw in the last vision involving Joshua the high priest that Zechariah was pretty excited about the proceedings. 

So, it’s not boredom that led Zechariah to sleep. Rather, it seems that receiving visions like Zechariah is experiencing can be an exhausting process. 

Twice, the prophet Daniel – after receiving a vision from the Lord – says that he sank or fell “into a deep sleep with his face to the ground” (Dan 8:18, 10:9) Daniel also reported to being “exhausted and sick for days” after receiving one of his visions. (Dan 8:27) 

The point is that apparently receiving visions from the Lord can be quite a draining experience. And this is probably why Zechariah falls asleep and has to be awakened at this point by the communicating angel. Not because he’s bored – but because he’s exhausted. 

Well, this angel has a question for the previously-sleeping prophet in verse 2. 

2 [And said unto/He said to/He asked/And he said to] me,  

What [seest thou/do you see]?  

Now, this question is a fairly common one that God tends to ask his prophets as he’s giving them visions. 

He asked Jeremiah this question three times, Amos twice, and Zechariah twice. So, prophets do tend to get this question from the Lord not infrequently. 

And of course, the Lord doesn’t need information from these prophets. It’s not that he can’t see whatever it is that he’s calling attention to and needs the prophet’s help to discover what’s there. 

The Lord is asking this question to get the prophet thinking and to introduce the prophet to the subject that he wants to expound upon. 

So, what is it that the Lord wants to show Zechariah in this vision that is going to setup the message of this vision? We continue verse 2 discovering that right in front of Zechariah there is a golden candlestick. 

[And I said/I replied/I answered],  

I [have looked, and behold/see, and behold,/see] a [candlestick all of gold/lampstand all of gold/menorah of pure gold/solid gold lampstand], [with/and] [a/its] [bowl/receptacle] [upon/on/at]&n