Zechariah 13

God’s People Cleansed

¹“On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.[#Ps 36:9; 68:26; Pr 14:27; Jr 2:13; 17:13; #Zch 3:1-10]

²On that day” — this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts — “I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land.[#Ex 17:14; Dt 12:3; 25:19; 29:20; 32:26; Ps 34:16; 109:15; #= false prophets]

³If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him: You cannot remain alive because you have spoken falsely in the name of Yahweh. When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.[#Dt 13:5; 18:20; Jr 14:14-15; 23:14-16,30-31; 27:15-16; Ezk 13:2-4,9,16; Mc 3:5-6,11]

⁴On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive.[#1Kg 19:13,19; 2Kg 2:8]

⁵He will say: I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased me as a servant since my youth.[#Or sold; #Am 7:14]

⁶If someone asks him: What are these wounds on your chest? — then he will answer: I received the wounds in the house of my friends.[#1Kg 18:28; #Lit wounds between your hands]

⁷Sword, awake against My shepherd,

against the man who is My associate —

this is the declaration of the Lord of Hosts.

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;

I will also turn My hand against the little ones.

⁸In the whole land —

this is the Lord ’s declaration —

two-thirds will be cut off and die,

but a third will be left in it.

⁹I will put this third through the fire;

I will refine them as silver is refined

and 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 say: Yahweh is our God.”