Zechariah son of Berechiah זכריה בן ברכיה

His is the longest book of the twelve minor prophets. He speaks two months after Haggai—in the eighth month of the second year of Darius—and works alongside him: the book of Ezra names both as the men by whose words the building held.

The main part is eight visions shown in a single night and explained by an angel. Horsemen who have patrolled the earth and report that all the earth is at rest. Four horns and four smiths. A man with a measuring line going out to measure Jerusalem—and word that the city will live without walls, "for I will be a wall of fire around it." The high priest Joshua in filthy garments, which are taken off him. A golden lampstand with seven lamps and two olive trees beside it—and the explanation that became better known than the vision: "not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, said the LORD of Hosts." That line is read as the haftarah on the Sabbath of Chanukah.

Then a flying scroll, a woman in an ephah, four chariots between mountains of bronze. Then a question from Bethel: should the fast for the ruined Temple continue, now that the Temple is being built? And the answer that puts everything in place: was your fasting for Me? Judge with true justice, deal kindly and mercifully with one another, do not oppress the widow and the orphan—and the fasts will turn into joy and gladness.

The last chapters are about the end of days, and from them come the words that close every Aleinu: "and the LORD shall be King over all the earth; on that day the LORD shall be one and His name one."