Zechariah 13

English Standard Version Anglicised

13 ^(A)“On that day there shall be ^(B)a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness.

Idolatry Cut Off

²“And ^(C)on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, ^(D)I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, so that ^(E)they shall be remembered no more. And also ^(F)I will remove from the land the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness. ³And if anyone again prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ^(G)‘You shall not live, for you speak lies in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and mother who bore him shall pierce him through when he prophesies.

⁴“On that day ^(H)every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive, ⁵but he will say, ^(I)‘I am no prophet, I am a worker of the soil, for a man sold me in my youth.’^[a] ⁶And if one asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your back?’^[b] he will say, ‘The wounds I received in the house of my friends.’

The Shepherd Struck

⁷“Awake, O sword, against ^(J)my shepherd,
    against the man who stands next to me,”
declares the Lord of hosts.
^(K)“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;
    I will turn my hand against the little ones.
⁸In the whole land, declares the Lord,
    two thirds shall be cut off and perish,
    ^(L)and one third shall be left alive.
⁹And ^(M)I will put this third into the fire,
    and refine them as one refines silver,
    and test them as gold is tested.
^(N)They will call upon my name,
    and ^(O)I will answer them.
^(P)I will say, ‘They are my people’;
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’”

Footnotes

Zechariah 13:5 Or for the land has been my possession since my youth
Zechariah 13:6 Or on your chest; Hebrew wounds between your hands

Zechariah 13

The Message

Washing Away Sins

13 “On the Big Day, a fountain will be opened for the family of David and all the leaders of Jerusalem for washing away their sins, for scrubbing their stained and soiled lives clean.

^2-3“On the Big Day”—this is God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaking—“I will wipe out the store-bought gods, erase their names from memory. People will forget they ever heard of them. And I’ll get rid of the prophets who polluted the air with their diseased words. If anyone dares persist in spreading diseased, polluting words, his very own parents will step in and say, ‘That’s it! You’re finished! Your lies about God put everyone in danger,’ and then they’ll stab him to death in the very act of prophesying lies about God—his own parents, mind you!

^4-6“On the Big Day, the lying prophets will be publicly exposed and humiliated. Then they’ll wish they’d never swindled people with their ‘visions.’ No more masquerading in prophet clothes. But they’ll deny they’ve even heard of such things: ‘Me, a prophet? Not me. I’m a farmer—grew up on the farm.’ And if someone says, ‘And so where did you get that black eye?’ they’ll say, ‘I ran into a door at a friend’s house.’

* * *

^7-9“Sword, get moving against my shepherd,
    against my close associate!”
        Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Kill the shepherd! Scatter the sheep!
    The back of my hand against even the lambs!
All across the country”—God’s Decree—
    “two-thirds will be devastated
    and one-third survive.
I’ll deliver the surviving third to the refinery fires.
    I’ll refine them as silver is refined,
    test them for purity as gold is tested.
Then they’ll pray to me by name
    and I’ll answer them personally.
I’ll say, ‘That’s my people.’
    They’ll say, ‘God—my God!’”

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

The Message (MSG)

Zechariah 13 English Standard Version Anglicised