Book of Zechariah 1-14, Book of Malachi 1-4, First Book of Maccabees 1-5

Book of Zechariah is another one that's set during the time of Darius.  Zechariah himself is the grandson of Iddo, one of the last figures of the Bible.  His is another book filled with prophecy.  Notably, it takes the foreshadowing of Revelation's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse more literally than the last time we saw such a thing, by including actual horsemen.

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion; for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you, says the Lord!"  Hmm, perhaps as Jesus?

Satan is referenced directly.  But it amounts to a more or less throwaway reference.

Greece is referenced directly for the first time, even though there have been constant allusions to close Jewish contact with its various nation states.

There's a payment of 30 pieces of silver, which is not as well-received as it first seems.

"When they look on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn."

Book of Malachi, meanwhile, is another book concerned with the doings of the house of Esau.  It's a little odd that so many later books in the Bible do this while so many of the former ones completely ignore Jacob's brother.  It's a book mostly in the form of a screed against bad priests.  It also includes a prophecy concerning Elijah's return.

First Book of Maccabees begins somewhat curiously with a warped portrait of Alexander the Great.  I happen to know a bit about the famed Macedonian conqueror, so the summary provided here runs afoul quite notably in a few places, not the least in how it presents his final days.  He most certainly did not appoint successors.  That's how his empire crumbled so spectacularly.  But here, he's said to have done exactly that.  In fact, that's common for the Bible.  Basic human fallibility is routinely reduced to character judgments, both on individuals and nations, usually predicated on their religious observance.  But then, the Bible is a book primarily concerned with religious observance...Still long story short, and maybe this is simply a matter of how historic views change or don't always line up together, but don't take Alexander the Great's legacy strictly from what can be found in First Maccabees.

Anyway, after Alexander departs this mortal realm, things don't go so well for his successors, who are none of them half the man he was.  One of the men who was definitely not half the man was Antiochus, the main villain of this piece, the instigator and religious persecutor who riles up Mattahias and his five sons, including Judas Maccabeus.  Mattahias begins a full-scale revolt of Jews against tyranny, bringing back the fervor and battle success of the holy warriors of old, until he dies and Judas succeeds him.  Judas has among his allies a group known as the Hasideans.

A couple notes worth including:

Antiochus, as part of his rampage sacks Egypt (whose fortunes were never again quite at Exodus levels).  He plunders the temple.  (I'm not clear on this because of the wording, but I think Judas later repairs it.)  The temple at this time features "the bread of the Presence," which certainly sounds like a precursor to Catholicism's Holy Communion (which is quite literally the bread of the Presence).  Jerusalem becomes occupied.

Oh, and Rome is referenced for the first time in the Bible...

Phinehas is fairly important in the theology here.  Also invoked: Abraham, Joseph, Caleb, Joshua, David, Elijah, and Daniel.

The descendants of Esau are once again prominent, naturally, fighting against Judas and his warriors.  And to think, way back in Genesis, Esau sounded like he was going to have such a good legacy.