Book of Zechariah - Authorship

Authorship

Some scholars accept the book as the writings of one individual. For example, George Livingstone Robinson's dissertation on chapters 9-14 concluded that those chapters had their origin in the period between 518 and 516 BCE and stand in close relation to chapters 1-8, having most probably been composed by Zechariah himself. However, most modern scholars believe the book of Zechariah was written by at least two different people.

Zechariah 1-8, sometimes referred to as First Zechariah, was written in the 6th century BCE. Zechariah 9-14, often called Second Zechariah, contains within the text no datable references to specific events or individuals but most scholars give the text a date in the fifth century BCE. Second Zechariah, in the opinion of some scholars, appears to make use of the books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, the Deuteronomistic History, and the themes from First Zechariah. This has led some to believe that the writer(s) or editor(s) of Second Zechariah may have been a disciple of the prophet Zechariah. There are some scholars who go even further and divide Second Zechariah into Second Zechariah (9-11) and Third Zechariah (12-14) since each begins with a heading oracle.