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A Fountain to Wash Away Sin

13 On that day[a] a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

In that day, declares the Lord of Armies, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the impure spirit from the land. If anyone still prophesies, his father and his mother who gave birth to him will tell him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord!” Then his father and his mother who gave birth to him will stab him when he prophesies.

In that day each of those prophets will be ashamed of his vision. When he prophesies, he will not put on a prophet’s garment made of hair in order to deceive. Instead he will say, “I am not a prophet. I have been a tiller of the soil since my youth, when a man bought me.” Someone will ask him, “What are these wounds on your body?”[b] He will reply, “I received these wounds in the house of my friends.”

Strike the Shepherd, and the Sheep Will Be Scattered

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
    and against the man who is my associate, declares the Lord of Armies.
    Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered,
    and I will turn my hand against the little ones.[c]

This will take place in the whole land, declares the Lord:
    Two thirds of those who remain in it will be cut off and perish,
    but one third will be left in it.
I will put that third into the fire,
    and I will refine them as silver is refined,
    and I will test them as gold is tested.
    They will call on my name, and I will answer them.
    I will say, “This is my people.”
    And they will say, “The Lord is my God.”

Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 13:1 This may refer specifically to Good Friday (see 3:9) or it may refer to the New Testament era.
  2. Zechariah 13:6 Heathen priests gashed themselves as part of their frenzied prayers.
  3. Zechariah 13:7 Or but I will turn my hand back to the little ones