Zechariah 13

Translator Notes

1. The maqor niphttach ('opened fountain') is a permanent, flowing source of cleansing — not a one-time event but an ongoing provision. The combination lechatat uleniddah ('for sin and for impurity') covers both moral guilt (chatat, 'sin/missing the mark') and ritual defilement (niddah, 'impurity,' particularly menstrual impurity in Leviticus). Together they represent comprehensive cleansing — nothing is left uncovered. This fountain flows directly from the mourning and repentance described in 12:10-14.

Translator Notes

1. Three things are purged: the names of idols (atsabbim, 'shaped images'), the false prophets, and the ruach hattu'mah ('spirit of impurity/uncleanness'). Cutting off the 'names' means erasing them from memory and language — the idols will not even be mentioned. The coupling of 'prophets' (without the qualifier 'false') with the 'spirit of impurity' is jarring — it suggests that prophetic activity itself has become so corrupted that the institution must be removed, not just reformed.

Translator Notes

1. The severity is shocking: parents will condemn and even execute their own child for false prophecy. The verb udqaruhu ('they will pierce him') is the same verb (daqar) used in 12:10 for the pierced one — creating an intertextual connection between the two piercings. The law of Deuteronomy 13:1-5 and 18:20 mandated death for false prophets; here, even parents enforce it. The repetition of 'his father and mother who bore him' emphasizes the intimacy of the relationship that is overridden by covenant loyalty.

Translator Notes

1. The prophetic institution is so thoroughly discredited that prophets will be ashamed (yevoshu) of their own visions. The adderet se'ar ('hairy cloak') was the distinctive garment of prophets (cf. 2 Kings 1:8 for Elijah; Matthew 3:4 for John the Baptist). They will abandon even the outward sign of their calling. The phrase lema'an kachesh ('in order to deceive') reveals the motive behind their prophecy — they were never genuine.

Translator Notes

1. The denial is complete: lo navi anokhi ('I am not a prophet') — a striking contrast to Amos 7:14, where the phrase carries different force. The claim to be ish oved adamah ('a man who works the soil') is a retreat into agricultural anonymity. The former false prophet now claims he has always been a farmer. The phrase adam hiqnani minne'urai ('a man/the ground acquired me from my youth') is difficult — it may mean 'someone made me a servant from youth' or 'the land has been my occupation from youth.' We follow the latter reading.

Translator Notes

1. The 'wounds between your arms/hands' (makkot bein yadekha) may refer to self-laceration wounds from ecstatic prophetic practices (cf. 1 Kings 18:28, where the prophets of Baal cut themselves). The false prophet's excuse — 'I received them in the house of my friends' (beit me'ahavai) — is a transparent lie: he attributes cult-related wounds to a domestic incident. The phrase bein yadekha is literally 'between your hands,' likely meaning the chest/torso area between the arms. Christian tradition has sometimes read this christologically, but the context is clearly about exposed false prophets.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. Jesus directly quotes this verse in Matthew 26:31 and Mark 14:27 on the night of his arrest, applying it to himself. The command is addressed to the 'sword' (cherev) as God's agent — personified and summoned to action. The shepherd is called ro'i ('my shepherd') — God's own shepherd — and gever amiti ('the man who is my companion'). The word amit is deeply intimate, denoting a close associate or covenant partner (Leviticus 6:2; 18:20; 19:11, 15, 17; 24:19; 25:14, 15, 17). The striking of this shepherd is divinely commanded, and the scattering is its consequence. The final phrase — vahashivoti yadi al-hatso'arim ('I will turn my hand upon the little ones') — is ambiguous: 'turn my hand against' can mean judgment or 'turn my hand to' in protection. The context of verses 8-9 suggests a refining purpose.

Translator Notes

1. The proportions are devastating: pi-shenayim ('two-thirds,' literally 'a mouth of two') will be cut off (yikkartu) and die (yigva'u). Only the shelishit ('third') survives. This echoes Ezekiel 5:1-4, where the prophet divides his hair into thirds representing different fates for Jerusalem. The severity establishes the remnant theology: survival is not guaranteed by membership in the covenant people but by divine selection through refining fire.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The refining metaphor — silver (tsaraph) and gold (bachan) — represents two stages of testing: tsaraph ('smelt, refine') removes dross from silver by heat, and bachan ('test, prove, assay') verifies gold's purity. The surviving third is not merely spared but transformed by fire. The final exchange — amarti ammi hu / vehu yomar YHWH Elohai ('I will say, My people / they will say, The LORD is my God') — is the bilateral covenant formula in its most intimate form. This is the goal of all redemptive history: mutual belonging between God and his refined people.