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Zechariah 9 Commentary

Please choose a passage:

Zechariah 9:1-8

The Suzerain (ruler) God promises to judge the nations surrounding Judah. He will stop them from oppressing His people and find a remnant among them to worship Him.

Zechariah 9:9-10

The LORD urges the Judeans to rejoice because the long-awaited righteous king is coming. He will stop all wars and bring peace to the whole world.

Zechariah 9:11-13

The LORD announces His plan to free Zion’s captives to fulfill His promise to her. He urges them to return home because He will give them a double blessing and use them to defeat Greece.

Zechariah 9:14-17

Zechariah tells the Judeans that the LORD will defend them, care for them, and restore their fortunes because they are precious to Him.

Additional Resources

The book of Zechariah begins with a title verse providing information concerning the date, authorship, and source of the revelation. It states that the prophecy occurred in the eighth month of the second year of Darius (vs 1). The biblical material likely dates the prophetic message according to the regnal year of the Persian king because there was no king in Judah during that time. Judah had been conquered by Babylon, which in turn had been taken over by Persia (Daniel 5:30-31).

The term prophet [“nābî” in Hebrew] means “proclaimer” or “forth-teller.” It describes someone who received a call from God to be God’s spokesman. A prophet was God’s emissary. He had a particular calling to see or hear what God was saying, live it out in his life, and proclaim it to the people roundabout. That means the prophet could not speak from his authority and was not free to say what he pleased. Rather, he was to discern what God thought about a given situation, what His attitude was toward the people’s behavior in the past, what He required of them in the present, and how He would act in their favor in the future.

Chapter Context

Zechariah 9 begins with an oracle of the LORD’s judgment against the nations surrounding Judah to subdue them and find a remnant among them to worship Him. Then, God invites His people to rejoice because the righteous king will soon bring peace to the world. The passage ends with God’s promise to free the captives of Zion and give them a double blessing because they are so precious to Him. The passage’s outline is as follows:

The Suzerain (ruler) God promises to judge the nations surrounding Judah. He will stop them from oppressing His people and find a remnant among them to worship Him (vv. 1–8).
The Suzerain (ruler) God urges the Judeans to rejoice because the long-awaited righteous king is coming. He will stop all wars and bring peace to the world (vv. 9–10).
The Suzerain (ruler) God announces His plan to free Zion’s captives to fulfill His promise to her. He urges them to return home because He will give them a double blessing and use them to defeat Greece (vv. 11–13).
The prophet Zechariah tells the Judeans that the LORD will defend them, care for them, and restore their fortunes because they are so precious to Him (vv. 14–17).