Zechariah 1:7

Study note

Setting — The text states that in the second year of Darius, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month (Shebat), the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah and grandson of Iddo. This report follows the fathers’ repentance recorded in Zechariah 1:6 and directly introduces the night vision described in Zechariah 1:8.

The words — The Hebrew בְּיוֹם עֶשְׂרִים וְאַרְבָּעָה (be-yom esrim ve-'arba'ah) literally means "on the day twenty and four," fixing the oracle to a specific calendar point. The term חֹדֶשׁ (chodesh) designates the month as Shebat, providing the precise chronological anchor for the revelation.

The thread — The dating formula repeats the structure of Zechariah 1:1, which also places a prophetic word in the second year of Darius. This chronological linkage ties the current oracle to the earlier call and sets the stage for the subsequent vision in Zechariah 1:8.

Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that divine communication is recorded within concrete historical time. It demands that the audience treat the specific moment of delivery as the necessary foundation for the prophetic content that follows.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.