Zechariah
Chapter 13
On that day, a spring will be opened for the family of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem to cleanse themselves of sin and defilement. The Lord, the God of hosts, declares:
On that day, I will erase the names of idols from the land, and they will never be mentioned again.
I will also remove the prophets and their unclean spirits, driving them out of the land. If a prophet prophesies, his parents—his father and mother—will say to him: “You shall no longer live, for you have spoken lies in the name of the Lord.” His own parents will stab him when he prophesies.
On that day, the prophets will be ashamed of their prophetic visions and will no longer wear a prophet’s garment of hair to deceive.
Instead, each of them will say: “I am not a prophet; I am a farmer. The land has owned me since my youth.”
And if anyone asks him: “What are these wounds on your hands?” he will answer, “With these, I was wounded in my friend’s house.”
“Sword, awake, and strike my shepherd, the man who is near to me!” says the Lord, God of hosts. “Strike the shepherd and let the flock be scattered!” The Lord threatens: “I will turn against the little ones,
and in all the land, two-thirds shall be destroyed and one-third left.
This third shall be cleansed by fire; I shall refine them, as silver is refined; I shall test them, as gold is tested. They shall call upon my name and I will hear them. I will say: ‘They are my people,’ and they shall say: ‘The Lord is my God.’”
Commentaries
That Day.
This final section is filled with promises of salvation and glory for Jerusalem. The tone of these chapters is eminently apocalyptic and eschatological, as can be deduced from the repeated formula “then on that day…,” “it will happen on that day…”.
Title.
After the sincere repentance of the royal house and all the people, the Lord will carry out a profound purification, eliminating both idols and false prophets. Those who had uttered deceptive prophecies will be ashamed of their words and will try to hide their identity. The “hairy cloak” refers to the clothing of the prophet Elijah, a symbol of authentic prophecy (cf. 2 Kings 1:8; Matthew 3:4). The wounds in verse 6 allude to a pagan ritual in which idol worshippers inflicted cuts on themselves to enter a trance, as recounted in 1 Kings 18:28.