Zechariah 13
1 At that time [it will be as though] [MET] there will be a fountain from which water flows continually to cleanse the descendants [MTY] of [King] David and [all] the [other] people in Jerusalem from the guilt of the sins that they have committed, [especially] from becoming unacceptable to me [by worshiping idols].
On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David, and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
2 The Commander of the armies of angels says, “At that time, I will prevent [people from even mentioning] the names of the idols in their country, and no one will remember them any more. I will also expel from the land all the people who falsely claim that they are prophets [DOU].
And it will be on that day, says the Lord of hosts, I will cut off the names of the idols from the land and they will be remembered no more. And the prophets and the unclean spirit I will banish from the land.
3 If someone continues to prophesy [falsely], his parents must say to him, ‘You have told lies saying that Yahweh [MTY] gave those messages to you, so you must be executed.’ [So] if someone prophesies [like that], his own father and mother must stab him [and kill him].
If any man prophesy any more, his father and his mother who bore him, will say to him, ‘You will not live, for you speak falsehood in the name of the Lord.’ And his father and his mother who bore him will stab him through when he is seized by the prophetic frenzy.
4 At that time, the false prophets will be ashamed [that they claimed to have received messages from me in] their visions and prophesies [that they told to people]. They will no [longer] deceive people by wearing the clothes [that prophets usually wear], clothes made of [animals’] hair.
And it will be in that day that the prophets will be ashamed, each of his vision, and will not wear the hairy mantle in order to deceive.
5 [So] each of them will say, ‘I am not [really] a prophet; I am a farmer, and I have been a farmer on my land ever since I was a boy!’
Each will say, ‘I am not a prophet, a tiller of the ground am I, for the ground is my possession from my youth.’
6 But someone, [seeing the wounds on one of those prophet’s bodies, will suspect that he injured himself during rituals to worship idols, and he] will ask ‘Why are those wounds on your body?’ And he [will lie, saying] ‘I was injured [when I was] at my friend’s house.’”
And they will say to him, ‘What are these scars on your back?’ And he will say, ‘The scars which I received in the house of my friends.’
7 The Commander of the armies of angels says, “[My] sword [APO] must strike [the one who is like] [MET] my shepherd, the man who is (my companion/very (close/dear) to me). When the shepherd is killed, [those who are like] [MET] his sheep will scatter. [And those who are like] [MET] my little sheep will [also] be attacked [IDM].”
Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands near to me, says the Lord of hosts. I will strike the shepherd so that the sheep may be scattered, I will turn my hand against the little ones.
8 Yahweh [also] says, “Two-thirds [of the people in Judah] will die [DOU]. [Only] one-third [of the people in Judah] will remain alive.
In all the land, says the Lord, two-thirds in it will be cut off and die, but a third will be left in it.
9 And I will test the ones that remain alive [by causing them to experience great difficulties, to find out if they will continue to worship me]. I will purify them like [MET] a man purifies gold or silver by putting it into a [very hot] fire. [Then] my people will call to me [MTY] [for help], and I will answer them. I will say [to them], ‘You are my people,’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is our God.’”
I will bring the third into the fire, and melt it as one melts silver, and test it as one tests gold. Then they will call on my name, and I myself will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people.’ They will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’
