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Zechariah 13
The Message
Zechariah 13
The Message
Washing Away Sins
13 “On the Big Day, a fountain will be opened for the family of David and all the leaders of Jerusalem for washing away their sins, for scrubbing their stained and soiled lives clean.
2-3 “On the Big Day”—this is God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaking—“I will wipe out the store-bought gods, erase their names from memory. People will forget they ever heard of them. And I’ll get rid of the prophets who polluted the air with their diseased words. If anyone dares persist in spreading diseased, polluting words, his very own parents will step in and say, ‘That’s it! You’re finished! Your lies about God put everyone in danger,’ and then they’ll stab him to death in the very act of prophesying lies about God—his own parents, mind you!
4-6 “On the Big Day, the lying prophets will be publicly exposed and humiliated. Then they’ll wish they’d never swindled people with their ‘visions.’ No more masquerading in prophet clothes. But they’ll deny they’ve even heard of such things: ‘Me, a prophet? Not me. I’m a farmer—grew up on the farm.’ And if someone says, ‘And so where did you get that black eye?’ they’ll say, ‘I ran into a door at a friend’s house.’
* * *
7-9 “Sword, get moving against my shepherd,
against my close associate!”
Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Kill the shepherd! Scatter the sheep!
The back of my hand against even the lambs!
All across the country”—God’s Decree—
“two-thirds will be devastated
and one-third survive.
I’ll deliver the surviving third to the refinery fires.
I’ll refine them as silver is refined,
test them for purity as gold is tested.
Then they’ll pray to me by name
and I’ll answer them personally.
I’ll say, ‘That’s my people.’
They’ll say, ‘God—my God!’”
Zechariah 13
New International Version
Zechariah 13
New International Version
Cleansing From Sin
13 “On that day a fountain(A) will be opened to the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to cleanse(B) them from sin and impurity.
2 “On that day, I will banish the names of the idols(C) from the land, and they will be remembered no more,”(D) declares the Lord Almighty. “I will remove both the prophets(E) and the spirit of impurity from the land. 3 And if anyone still prophesies, their father and mother, to whom they were born, will say to them, ‘You must die, because you have told lies(F) in the Lord’s name.’ Then their own parents will stab the one who prophesies.(G)
4 “On that day every prophet will be ashamed(H) of their prophetic vision. They will not put on a prophet’s garment(I) of hair(J) in order to deceive.(K) 5 Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; the land has been my livelihood since my youth.[a]’(L) 6 If someone asks, ‘What are these wounds on your body[b]?’ they will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends.’
The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered
7 “Awake, sword,(M) against my shepherd,(N)
against the man who is close to me!”
declares the Lord Almighty.
“Strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered,(O)
and I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 In the whole land,” declares the Lord,
“two-thirds will be struck down and perish;
yet one-third will be left in it.(P)
9 This third I will put into the fire;(Q)
I will refine them like silver(R)
and test them like gold.(S)
They will call(T) on my name(U)
and I will answer(V) them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’(W)
and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.(X)’”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 13:5 Or farmer; a man sold me in my youth
- Zechariah 13:6 Or wounds between your hands
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.