In the fourth year: In the date the Hebrew text mentions the year before the day or the month, in contrast to the order in 1.1, 7. There does not seem to be any special reason for this, and translators should follow whatever order is most natural in their own language. In modern terms this date was 7 December 518 B.C.

King Darius: In this section there are also other minor differences from 1.1, 7. The Hebrew text here includes the description of Darius as King; translators should use the same term as they used in 1.1, 7. For King or “emperor,” see Hag 1.1.

The word of the LORD came to Zechariah: See 1.1. The ancestry of Zechariah is not repeated this time.

Chislev (Good News Translation “Kislev”) was the Babylonian name for the ninth month.

For other information on this verse, translators should refer again to the comments on 1.1, 7. As in 1.7, Good News Translation has changed the third person reference to Zechariah to the first person “me.” This was helpful in 1.7, because there it was immediately followed by a vision narrated in the first person. Here, however, it does not seem necessary, since the next two verses continue in the third person. In many languages it will be better to identify the prophet by name, as his name has not been mentioned since 1.7 (as in Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch).

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. & Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Zechariah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2002. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .