Two men named Zechariah appeared in the Bible.
The father of John the baptist in the New Testament (Luke 1).
King James called him Zacharias and his wife, Elisabeth. (In NIV, she was known as Elizabeth.)
Zechariah, a Levite, acted as a minor prophet after the Babylonian exiles returned from Babylon (in the Old Testament).
King James called him Zacharias, son of Barachias in Matthew 23:35. NIV called his father Berekiah.
Post-Flood lineage: Jacob (Israel) > Levi > Gershon > Libni > Jehath > Zimmah > Joah > Iddo > Berekiah > Zechariah
Zechariah was the only prophet whose lineage was recorded since he was grand-son to Iddo, the seer. Shemaiah the prophet and Iddo the seer took care to record genealogies as stated in 2 Chronicles 12:15. It's quite likely that a good portion of both books of Chronicles came from their records. Iddo was mentioned in that passage as having served during Rehoboam's reign in Judah, helped record king Solomon's deeds in 2 Chronicles 9:29 and king Abijah in 2 Chronicles 13:22.
Zechariah's grandfather, Iddo, returned from exile in Babylon in
Nehemiah 12:1-4:
1. These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
2. Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
3. Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
4. Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah,
While Ezra 5:1 and 6:14 called him a descendant of Iddo, Zechariah 1:1,7 revealed that he was Iddo's grand-son through his father, Berekiah.
1 Chronicles 6:16-21:
16. The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath and Merari.
17. These are the names of the sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei.
18. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron and Uzziel.
19. The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the clans of the Levites listed according to their fathers:
20. Of Gershon: Libni his son, Jehath his son, Zimmah his son,
21. Joah his son, Iddo his son, Zerah his son and Jeatherai his son.
Zechariah became prominent among the families of the Levites per
Nehemiah 12:12-16:
12. In the days of Joiakim, these were the heads of the priestly families: of Seraiah's family, Meraiah; of Jeremiah's, Hananiah;
...
16. of Iddo's, Zechariah; of Ginnethon's, Meshullam;
The Book of Zechariah begins during the second year of Darius the Persian as stated in
Zechariah 1:1,7:
1. In the eighth month of the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo:
...
7. On the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month, the month of Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah son of Berekiah, the son of Iddo.
The book of Ezra recorded Zechariah helping to rebuild the temple (in Jerusalem) before the Romans took over the region.
Ezra 5:1:
1. Now Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the prophet, a descendant of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, who was over them.
Ezra 6:14-15:
14. So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. They finished building the temple according to the
command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia.
15. The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.
According to Matthew 23:35 and Luke 11:51, Zechariah was said to have been killed "between the temple and the altar".
