Zechariah 13

1 “In that day there will be a fountain opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

2 It will come to pass in that day, says the LORD of Armies, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will be remembered no more. I will also cause the prophets and the spirit of impurity to pass out of the land.

3 It will happen that when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you speak lies in the LORD’s name;’ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies.

4 It will happen in that day that the prophets will each be ashamed of his vision when he prophesies; they won’t wear a hairy mantle to deceive,

5 but he will say, ‘I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth.’

6 One will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is close to me,” says the LORD of Armies. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; and I will turn my hand against the little ones.

8 It shall happen that in all the land,” says the LORD, “two parts in it will be cut off and die; but the third will be left in it.

9 I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Around Zechariah 13

Context

Context for this book is being written. A note appears here only once it names its sources.

AI explanation

About Zechariah as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

The same returned community that heard Haggai hears Zechariah. His first message is an invitation: “Return to me,” says the LORD of Armies, “and I will return to you,” says the LORD of Armies. Then come the visions, eight of them, seen at night. A man on a red horse among myrtle trees. Four horns, and four craftsmen coming to cast them down. Behind them stands a promise that the LORD has returned to Jerusalem with mercy. The first part of the book (chapters 1 to 8) promises God’s return to Jerusalem and calls for justice and mercy.

The second part (9 to 14) is harder to place. Its first great cry is a call to joy: “Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion!” The king who comes is righteous and having salvation, “lowly, and riding on a donkey,” even on a colt. The chapters go on to speak of a shepherd who is struck, of one who is pierced and mourned, and of a day when the LORD will be king over all the earth.

Background

The dated messages fall between 520 and 518 before Christ. Many scholars think chapters 9 to 14 come from a later time. Others hold that Zechariah wrote the whole book. The question is still open, and readers who take Scripture seriously stand on both sides of it. The prophet is called the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo, in the opening lines.

How Christians read it

The Gospels quote Zechariah repeatedly in telling of Jesus’ last week: the entry into Jerusalem on a donkey, the thirty pieces of silver, the scattered sheep and the pierced one. Christians differ on how much of the final chapters still lies ahead. Some read them mostly as pictures already fulfilled, and others look for more. How the book is read depends in part on how its two halves are related.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 21 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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World English Bible. Public-domain source and edition notes