Zechariah 13 KJV
Cleansing from Sin
Zechariah Chapter 13: Cleansing from Sin
Verse 7's command to smite the shepherd is quoted verbatim in Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27 to explain the disciples' flight, but the Hebrew participle 'fellow' (ืขืืืชื) implies the shepherd shares divine status, creating a stronger Trinitarian implication than the Greek translation captures.
1n that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
2 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD of hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered: and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
3 And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
4 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed every one of his vision, when he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a rough garment to deceive:
5 But he shall say, I am no prophet, I am an husbandman; for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth.
6 And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
7 Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
8 And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
9 And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
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Did You Know?
Verse 7's command to smite the shepherd is quoted verbatim in Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27 to explain the disciples' flight, but the Hebrew participle 'fellow' (ืขืืืชื) implies the shepherd shares divine status, creating a stronger Trinitarian implication than the Greek translation captures.
The false prophet's claim in verse 5 to be merely a 'husbandman' (ืืืจ) replicates the exact phrasing Amos uses to disclaim prophetic office in Amos 7:14, suggesting Zechariah deliberately invokes an earlier prophetic self-defense tradition to expose inauthentic claimants.
The 'wounds between thine hands' in verse 6 are explained in the Targum and medieval Jewish commentators as self-inflicted marks of ecstatic Baal prophets, yet the same phrase later became a proof-text in Christian polemics for stigmata or crucifixion wounds, showing a striking interpretive reversal across traditions.
Verses 8-9's reduction to a one-third remnant that is refined 'as silver is refined' employs the same metallurgical verb (ืฆืจืฃ) found in Malachi 3:2-3, linking two post-exilic prophets in a shared theology of fiery purgation that prepares the remnant for renewed covenant relationship.
The chapter opens with a 'fountain opened' (ืืงืืจ ื ืคืชื) for sin, a phrase that echoes the sudden release of subterranean waters in Genesis 7:11 yet is here redirected from judgment to cleansing, reversing the flood motif into an image of messianic purification.