Septuagint: Zakharian

The Book of Zakharian is set in the years 421 through 419 BCE, years 2 through 4 of King Darius II of the Persian Empire. Most scholars accept that the first eight chapters of Zakharian were written shortly after 421 BCE at the same time as Haggai, however, the later six chapters appear to be a much older prophecy of Shadrach that became embedded in Zakharian / Zachariah at some point. Very little is known about the prophet Zakharian, as the era he lived in is part of the so-called missing years of Rabbinical history. His world was very different from the later Kingdom of Judea that emerged in the 2ⁿᵈ century BCE, as the Israelites of his time were still worshiping several deities, as evidenced by the Elephantine papyri.

The name of the prophet is different in the Septuagint’s version of the book versus the Masoretic version. All copies of the Septuagint use the name Zakharian exclusively, with the name Zakharías only appearing in Forwards and Conclusions that later theologians added. This is generally ignored by translators as Zakharian is the accusative inflection of Zakharías, the Greek form of Zǝkaryâ. As a result, most translations render the name as either Zacharias or Zachariah, and ignore the name Zakharian. However, the Septuagint manuscripts use the form of Zakharian exclusively, regardless of the context, indicating that Zkryn was in the texts they translated. This may be the result of an Egypto-Israelite alteration, however, it may also be a relic of the original name. The name Zkryh means “has remembered Yehwa,” however, the name Zkryn means “Has remembered Ôn.”