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Zechariah 13
Names of God Bible
Zechariah 13
Names of God Bible
13 The Lord declares, “On that day a fountain will be opened for David’s family and for those who live in Jerusalem to wash away their sin and stain.
False Prophets Will Be Judged
2 “On that day,” declares Yahweh Tsebaoth, “I will wipe away the names of the idols from the land. They will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the false prophets and the unclean[a] spirit from the land.
3 “If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother, who gave birth to him, will say, ‘You don’t deserve to live because you speak lies in the name of Yahweh.’ Then his father and his mother, who gave birth to him, will stab him when he prophesies.
4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies. He won’t deceive people by dressing like a prophet in a coat made of hair. 5 He will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I’m a farmer. I’ve owned this land since I was a child.’
6 “When someone asks him, ‘What are these scars on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘I was hurt at my friend’s house.’
The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered
7 “Arise, sword, against my shepherd,
against the man who is my friend,” declares Yahweh Tsebaoth.
“Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
Then I will turn my hand against the little ones.”
8 Yahweh declares,
“Throughout the land two-thirds will be cut off and die.
Yet, one-third will be left in it.
9 I will bring this third of the people through the fire.
I will refine them as silver is refined.
I will test them as gold is tested.
They will call on me, and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people.’
They will reply, ‘Yahweh is our Elohim.’”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 13:2 “Unclean” refers to anything that Moses’ Teachings say is not presentable to God.
Zechariah 13
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Zechariah 13
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 13
Oracles Concerning the End of False Prophecy.[a] 1 On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David[b] and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to purify from sin and uncleanness.(A)
2 On that day—oracle of the Lord of hosts—I will destroy the names of the idols from the land, so that they will be mentioned no more; I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness from the land. 3 If any still prophesy, their father and mother who bore them will say, “You will not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.” Their father and mother who bore them will thrust them through when they prophesy.(B)
4 On that day, all prophets will be ashamed of the visions they prophesy; and they will not put on the hairy mantle[c] to mislead,(C) 5 but each will say, “I am not a prophet. I am a tiller of the soil, for I have owned land since my youth.”(D) 6 And if anyone asks, “What are these wounds on your chest?”[d] each will answer, “I received these wounds in the house of my friends.”(E)
The Song of the Sword
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the one who is my associate
—oracle of the Lord of hosts.
Strike the shepherd
that the sheep may be scattered;[e](F)
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In all the land—oracle of the Lord—
two thirds of them will be cut off and perish,
and one third will be left.
9 I will bring the one third through the fire;
I will refine them as one refines silver,(G)
and I will test them as one tests gold.
They will call upon my name, and I will answer them;(H)
I will say, “They are my people,”(I)
and they will say, “The Lord is my God.”
Footnotes
- 13:1–6 False prophecy is a major theme of Second Zechariah (chaps. 9–14) and figures in many other passages (10:1–2; 11; 12:10). Problems of idolatry and false prophecy occurred in postexilic Judah as they had in preexilic times. The understanding of the role of the prophet as an intermediary was challenged because (1) there was no king in Jerusalem, and (2) the texts of earlier prophets were beginning to be accorded the authority of prophetic tradition.
- 13:1 For the house of David: anticipation that a cleansed leadership will enable the re-established monarchy to be rid of the misdeeds of its past.
- 13:4 Hairy mantle: worn by prophets as a sign of their calling, for example, Elijah (1 Kgs 19:13; 2 Kgs 1:8) and John the Baptist (Mt 3:4).
- 13:6 Wounds on your chest: lit., “wounds between your hands.” The false prophets, like the prophets of Baal (1 Kgs 18:28), apparently inflicted wounds on themselves. Here it seems that persons accused of false prophecy deny having inflicted wounds on themselves and instead claim that they have received them at the houses of their friends.
- 13:7 Strike the shepherd…may be scattered: in Matthew’s Gospel (26:31) Jesus makes use of this text before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane and the flight of the disciples.
Zechariah 13
New International Version
Zechariah 13
New International Version
Cleansing From Sin
13 “On that day a fountain(A) will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse(B) them from sin and impurity.
2 “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols(C) from the land, and they will be remembered no more,”(D) declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets(E) and the spirit of impurity from the land. 3 And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies(F) in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.(G)
4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed(H) of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment(I) of hair(J) in order to deceive.(K) 5 Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.[a]’(L) 6 If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body[b]?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’
The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered
7 “Awake, sword,(M) against my shepherd,(N)
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,(O)
and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.(P)
9 This third I will put into the fire;(Q)
I will refine them like silver(R)
and test them like gold.(S)
They will call(T) on my name(U)
and I will answer(V) them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’(W)
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.(X)’”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 13:5 Or farmer; a man sold me in my youth
- Zechariah 13:6 Or wounds between your hands
Zechariah 13
The Voice
Zechariah 13
The Voice
13 A day is coming when a special spring will continually flow to purify the royal house of David and the citizens of Jerusalem from sin and sexual and religious impurities.
2 The Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies, promises to remove all idolatry from the land.
Eternal One: On that day, I will certainly blot out the names of the detestable idols and false gods from the land. They will never again be remembered or worshiped in this place. What’s more, I will cut off from the land the disreputable prophets and the impure spirits they work for. 3 If prophets speak again, even their fathers and mothers who brought them into the world will condemn them, saying, “You don’t deserve to live, for you speak lies and do so in the name of the Eternal.” And if they still try to prophesy, their parents will pierce their bodies to silence their lying voices. 4 On that day, the prophets will be clothed with the shame their visions will bring them. They will not be clothed with the hairy mantle, the attire of some of My prophets, to deceive the people into believing they speak for Me. 5 And each of them will have to admit, “I am no prophet, no servant of God. I am a farmer, bound to the land. I work the soil because a man sold me into slavery when I was young.” 6 And if anyone happens to say, “How did you get these ritual wounds on your chest and back?” then the answer will come back—another deception—“Oh, I received these at my friend’s house.”
7 This is a message of the Eternal, Commander of heavenly armies.
Eternal One: Sword, begin to stir; be ready to strike My shepherd,
to strike the man at My side.
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will scatter.[a]
I’ll turn My hand against the little ones.
8 It will spread across the land:
two of three will be cut down and perish,
And one of three will be left to survive.
9 And I will put this one-third through the fire—
refine them all as silver is refined, test them all as gold is tested.
They will invoke My name,
trust in My promises, and I will answer them.
I will announce, “These are My people”;
and they will confess, “The Eternal is our God.”
Footnotes
Names of God Bible (NOG)
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
The Voice (VOICE)
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.