Idolatry Cut Off

13 “In that (A)day (B)a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for (C)uncleanness.

“It shall be in that day,” says the Lord of hosts, “that I will (D)cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause (E)the prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land. It shall come to pass that if anyone still prophesies, then his father and mother who begot him will say to him, ‘You shall (F)not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who begot him (G)shall thrust him through when he prophesies.

“And it shall be in that day that (H)every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not wear (I)a robe of coarse hair to deceive. (J)But he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a farmer; for a man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.’ And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your [a]arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Savior

“Awake, O sword, against (K)My Shepherd,
Against the Man (L)who is My Companion,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
(M)“Strike the Shepherd,
And the sheep will be scattered;
Then I will turn My hand against (N)the little ones.
And it shall come to pass in all the land,”
Says the Lord,
That (O)two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die,
(P)But one-third shall be left in it:
I will bring the one-third (Q)through the fire,
Will (R)refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
(S)They will call on My name,
And I will answer them.
(T)I will say, ‘This is My people’;
And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 13:6 Or hands

False Prophets Ashamed

13 “In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the people of Jerusalem for [cleansing from] sin and impurity.

“In that day,” declares the Lord of hosts, “I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. And if anyone still [appears as a prophet and falsely] prophesies, then his father and his mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall not live, for you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord’; and his father and his mother who gave birth to him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. And in that day the [false] prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not wear a hairy robe [of true prophets] in order to deceive, but he will [deny his identity and] say, ‘I am no prophet. I work the ground, because a man sold me as a slave in my youth.’ And one will say to him, ‘What are these [a]wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those wounds I received in the house of my friends.’


“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
And against the Man, My Associate,”
Declares the Lord of hosts.
“Strike the Shepherd so that the sheep [of the flock] may be scattered;
And I will turn My hand and stretch it out against the little ones [of the flock].(A)

“It will come about in all the land,”
Declares the Lord,
“Two parts in it will be cut off and perish,
But the third will be left alive.(B)

“And I will bring the third part through the fire,
Refine them as silver is refined,
And test them as gold is tested.
They will call on My name,
And I will listen and answer them;
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 13:6 False prophets would sometimes cut themselves during emotional idolatrous rites, then deny that they had inflicted the wounds.

Final Cleansing from Sin

13 “In that day a spring will be opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity. [a] It will happen in that day”—it is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot—“that I will erase the names of the idols from the land and they will no longer be remembered. Furthermore, I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. If anyone still prophesies his father and his mother to whom he was born will say to him, ‘You cannot live because you tell lies in the Name of Adonai.’ When he prophesies, his own father and mother, the ones who bore him, will pierce him through. Therefore in that day each ‘prophet’ will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will no longer wear a hairy mantle in order to deceive but will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer—I have been a bondservant from my youth.’ Then someone will ask him, “What are these wounds between your hands?”—and he will answer, “Those that I received in the house of my friends.”

Awake, O sword, against My shepherd,
    against the man who is My companion!
It is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot.
    Strike the shepherd
    and the sheep will be scattered![b]
    I will turn My hand against the little ones.
Then it will happen
    —it is a declaration of Adonai
    that in the entire land
        two-thirds will be cut off and die,
        but a third will be left in it.
This third I will bring through the fire.
    I will refine them as silver is refined,
    and will test them as gold is tested.
    They will call on My Name
        and I will answer them.
    I will say, ‘They are My people,’
    and they will answer, ‘Adonai is my God.’[c]