Zechariah 13
About ZechariahWritten by AI
Zechariah was a priest and prophet who began preaching in 520 BC, two months after Haggai, to the Jews rebuilding Jerusalem after the exile. Haggai urged them to build; Zechariah lifted their eyes to what God was doing and would do. Many scholars think chapters 9 to 14 come from later in his life, and some think from a later writer.
The first half has eight night visions, full of horses, horns, lampstands, and a flying scroll, plus a call to justice and mercy. The second half looks further ahead, to a coming King, a rejected Shepherd, and the Day of the LORD. Christians differ on how parts of chapters 12 to 14 will be fulfilled.
Watch for how often the Gospels draw on this book: the King riding a donkey, thirty pieces of silver, the pierced one, the struck Shepherd. And remember the word to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.”
Before you read Zechariah 13Written by AI
A fountain is opened to cleanse the house of David from sin. Idols and false prophets will be removed from the land. Then God says, strike the Shepherd and the sheep will be scattered. Jesus quotes those words on the night of His arrest, as His disciples are about to scatter (Matthew 26:31).
An End to Idolatry
“On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity. And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land.
And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through.
And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive. He will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I work the land, for I was purchased as a servant in my youth.’ If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.’
The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered
Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd,
against the man who is My Companion,
declares the LORD of Hosts.
Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered,
and I will turn My hand against the little ones.
And in all the land,
declares the LORD,
two-thirds will be cut off and perish,
but a third will be left in it.
This third I will bring through the fire;
I will refine them like silver
and test them like gold.
They will call on My name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are My people,’
and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”