Barachiah

Barachiah — spelled Berechiah in the UPDV — is named in the prophet Zechariah's genealogy as Zechariah's father and Iddo's son. He appears only in the dating-formulas that open two oracle-cycles in the book of Zechariah.

Father of Zechariah the prophet

The opening superscription of Zechariah dates the first word of Yahweh by king's regnal year and names the prophet's lineage:

"In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying," (Zec 1:1).

The same triple genealogy returns three months later, marking the second oracle-cycle on the twenty-fourth day of Shebat:

"On the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Shebat, in the second year of Darius, the word of Yahweh came to Zechariah the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying," (Zec 1:7).

In both notices Berechiah stands between Zechariah and the better-known grandfather Iddo, with no other narrative role attached to the name.