Zechariah 13:1-6
New American Standard Bible
False Prophets Ashamed
13 “On that day a (A)fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for (B)sin and for (C)defilement.
2 “And it will come about on that day,” declares the Lord of armies, “that I will (D)eliminate the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and I will also remove the (E)prophets and the (F)unclean spirit from the land. 3 And if anyone still (G)prophesies, then his father and mother who gave birth to him will say to him, ‘You shall (H)not live, because you have spoken (I)falsely in the name of the Lord’; and his (J)father and mother who gave birth to him shall pierce him through when he prophesies. 4 Also it will come about on that day that the prophets will each be (K)ashamed of his vision when he prophesies, and they will not put on a (L)hairy robe in order to deceive; 5 but he will say, ‘I am (M)not a prophet; I am a cultivator of the ground, because a man [a]sold me as a slave in my youth.’ 6 And someone will say to him, ‘What are these wounds (N)between your [b]arms?’ Then he will say, ‘Those with which I was wounded at the house of [c]my friends.’
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- Zechariah 13:5 Lit caused another to buy me
- Zechariah 13:6 Lit hands
- Zechariah 13:6 Lit those who love me
Zechariah 13:1-6
New English Translation
The Refinement of Judah
13 “In that day there will be a fountain opened up for the dynasty[a] of David and the people of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and impurity.[b] 2 And also on that day,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will remove[c] the names of the idols from the land and they will never again be remembered. Moreover, I will remove the prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. 3 Then, if anyone prophesies in spite of this, his father and mother to whom he was born will say to him, ‘You cannot live, for you lie in the name of the Lord.’ Then his father and mother to whom he was born will run him through with a sword when he prophesies.[d]
4 “Therefore, on that day each prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies and will no longer wear the hairy garment[e] of a prophet to deceive the people.[f] 5 Instead he will say, ‘I am no prophet; indeed, I am a farmer, for a man has made me his indentured servant since my youth.’[g] 6 Then someone will ask him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’[h] and he will answer, ‘Some that I received in the house of my friends.’
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- Zechariah 13:1 tn Heb “house” (so NIV, NRSV), referring to dynastic descendants.
- Zechariah 13:1 tn Heb “for sin and for impurity.” The purpose implied here has been stated explicitly in the translation for clarity.sn This reference to the fountain opened up…to cleanse them from sin and impurity is anticipatory of the cleansing from sin that lies at the heart of the NT gospel message (Rom 10:9-10; Titus 3:5). “In that day” throughout the passage (vv. 1, 2, 4) locates this cleansing in the eschatological (church) age (John 19:37).
- Zechariah 13:2 tn Heb “cut off” (so NRSV); NAB “destroy”; NIV “banish.”
- Zechariah 13:3 sn Death (in this case being run…through with a sword) was the penalty required in the OT for prophesying falsely (Deut 13:6-11; 18:20-22).
- Zechariah 13:4 tn The “hairy garment of a prophet” (אַדֶּרֶת שֵׁעָר, ʾadderet sheʿar) was the rough clothing of Elijah (1 Kgs 19:13), Elisha (1 Kgs 19:19; 2 Kgs 2:14), and even John the Baptist (Matt 3:4). Yet אַדֶּרֶת alone suggests something of beauty and honor (Josh 7:21). The prophet’s attire may have been simple; the image it conveyed was one of great dignity.
- Zechariah 13:4 tn The words “the people” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation from context (cf. NCV, TEV, NLT).
- Zechariah 13:5 tn Or perhaps “for the land has been my possession since my youth” (so NRSV; similar NAB).
- Zechariah 13:6 tn Heb “wounds between your hands.” Cf. NIV “wounds on your body”; KJV makes this more specific: “wounds in thine hands.”sn These wounds on your chest. Pagan prophets were often self-lacerated (Lev 19:28; Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28) for reasons not entirely clear, so this false prophet betrays himself as such by these graphic and ineradicable marks.
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