Zechariah 13

God’s People Cleansed

1 "On that day a fountain  * 13:1 Ps 36:9; 68:26; Pr 14:27; Jr 2:13; 17:13 will be opened for the house of David and for the residents of Jerusalem, to wash away sin and impurity.  * 13:1 Zch 3:1–102 On that day" — this is the declaration of the Lord of Armies — "I will remove the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered.  * 13:2 Ex 17:14; Dt 12:3; 25:19; 29:20; 32:26; Ps 34:16; 109:15 I will banish the prophets  * 13:2 = false prophets and the unclean spirit from the land. 3 If a man still prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You cannot remain alive because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.’ When he prophesies, his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through.  * 13:3 Dt 13:5; 18:20; Jr 14:14–15; 23:14–16,30–31; 27:15–16; Ezk 13:2–4,9,16; Mc 3:5–6,114 On that day every prophet will be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they will not put on a hairy cloak  * 13:4 1Kg 19:13,19; 2Kg 2:8 in order to deceive. 5 He will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I work the land, for a man purchased  * 13:5 Or sold me as a servant since my youth.’  * 13:5 Am 7:146 If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds  * 13:6 1Kg 18:28 on your chest?’  * 13:6 Lit wounds between your hands  — then he will answer, ‘I received the wounds in the house of my friends.’

7 Sword, awake against my shepherd,

against the man who is my associate —

this is the declaration of the  Lord of Armies.

Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered;  * 13:7 Mt 26:31; Mk 14:27

I will turn my hand against the little ones.

8 In the whole land —

this is the  Lord’s declaration —

two-thirds  * 13:8 Lit two-thirds in it will be cut off and die,

but a third will be left in it.

9 I will put this third through the fire;

I will refine them as silver is refined

and test them as gold is tested.  * 13:9 Ps 66:10; Pr 17:3; Is 48:10; Mal 3:3

They will call on my name,

and I will answer them.  * 13:9 Ps 20:9; 27:7; 86:7; 102:2; Pr 1:28; Is 58:9; 65:24; Jr 33:3

I will say, ‘They are my people,’

and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’ "  * 13:9 Ex 6:7; Lv 26:12; Jr 7:23; 11:4; 24:7; 30:22; 31:1,33; 32:38; Ezk 11:20; 14:11; 36:28; 37:23,27; Zch 8:8; 2Co 6:16; Heb 8:10