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One-sentence summary: Zechariah prophesies the end times when the Lord will stand on the Mount of Olives, Israel will repent, and He will fight against their enemies.
"Ask the Lord for rain in the time for the latter rain." Zechariah says the Lord will give rain, but the idols speak delusion, and the diviners tell lies, tell false dreams, and comfort in vain. So the people have gone astray and have been in trouble, like sheep without a shepherd. So the Lord is angry with the shepherds. However, He will visit His flock- the house of Judah- and make them as royal horses in the battle. Referring to Judah, He says, "From him comes the Cornerstone, from him the tent peg, from him the battle bow, from him every ruler together. They will be like mighty men who tread down their enemies in the mire of the streets in the battle. They will fight because the Lord is with them." The Lord will strengthen and bring them back because He has mercy on them. Their hearts will rejoice in the Lord; He will redeem them, and they will increase. He will sow them among the peoples, and they will remember Him in far countries. He will gather them and bring them into Gilead and Lebanon. And the Lord will judge the nations that have oppressed them.
Zechariah speaks against nations who have oppressed Israel. The Lord says, "Feed the flock for slaughter, whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt." The Lord says He will no longer pity them. Zechariah takes two staffs, one called beauty and the other bonds. He takes the staff beauty and cuts it in two to break the covenant with the people. Then, he cuts the one called bonds to break the brotherhood between Israel in Judah. The Lord tells him He is raising up a shepherd who will not care for those who are cut off, seek the young, heal the broken, or feed those who are left, but he will eat them and tear their hooves in pieces. "Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock. A sword will be against his arm and right eye. His arm will wither, and his right eye will be blinded."
The burden of the word of the Lord comes against Israel. The Lord says He will make Jerusalem a cup of drunkenness to the surrounding peoples when they lay siege to her and Judah. She will be a very heavy stone to all people. Whoever brings her away will be cut in pieces. The Lord will strike the horses with confusion, the riders with madness, and the peoples with blindness. The governors will devour the people, but Jerusalem will be inhabited again. The Lord will save the tents of Judah first so that "the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not become greater than that of Judah." The Lord will defend Jerusalem. "The feeble one in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them." The Lord will destroy all nations that come against them. Upon His people He will pour out the spirit of grace and supplication. "Then, they will look on Me, Whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for His only Son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a Firstborn." There will be a great mourning in Jerusalem on that day.
In that day, a fountain will be open for the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness. The Lord will cut off the idols' names from the land, and they will not be remembered. The prophets and unclean spirit will depart from the land. If anyone prophesies, even his father and mother will say he must die, and will even kill him, because he spoke lies in God's name. The prophets will be ashamed of their visions and admit they are no prophets. The Lord says, "Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." Two thirds of the people will be cut off and die, but the one third will be left, and the Lord will "bring them through the fire, refine them like silver, and test them like gold." They will call on His name, and He will answer them; He will call them His people, and they will say that He is their God.
Zechariah says the day of the Lord is coming, and the spoil will be divided. All nations will come to battle against Jerusalem, and the city will be taken. Half will be taken to captivity, but the remnant will not be cut off. Then, the Lord will go and fight against those nations. "And His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which faces Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, making a very large valley. Half will move to the north and half to the south, and they will flee through it, just as they fled in the days of the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah. The Lord will come and all the saints with them. There will be no light; the lights will diminish, one day known to the Lord, neither day or night. At evening, it will be light. And living waters will flow from Jerusalem, half toward the eastern sea, and half toward the western sea. It will occur in both summer and winter. And the Lord will be King over all the earth. The Lord is one and His name, one." All the land will become a plain. Jerusalem will be raised up and inhabited. No longer will there be destruction, but she will be safe. The Lord will strike her enemies with a plague; their flesh and eyes and tongues will dissolve, and a great panic from the Lord will be among them so that they will fight each other. The wealth of the nations will be gathered in abundance. The horse, mule, camel, donkey, and cattle will also have this same plague. Everyone who is left of all the nations will "go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles." And whichever family does not come up to worship the Lord, on them, there will be no rain, but they will receive the plague. "In that day, Holiness to the Lord will be engraved on the bells of the horses." Every pot in Jerusalem and Judah will be holiness to the Lord of hosts. Those who sacrifice will come and cook in them, and there will be no foreigners in the Lord's house.
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