Zechariah 13 Study Notes: A Fountain for Cleansing and the Struck Shepherd
God opens a fountain to wash His people from sin, removes idols, and shames false prophets until they deny their calling. The LORD then calls for His Shepherd to be struck so the flock scatters, and a refined remnant comes through the fire as His people.
General
In 13:4-5, what will a prophet who is shamed by his vision claim about himself?
Answer: He claims he is a farmer who was bought as a servant when young
On that day false prophets will feel shame over their visions and will stop wearing the hairy cloak that prophets wore, which they had used to deceive people (13:4). Elijah, a true prophet, was known for his hairy appearance (2 Kings 1:8), and John the Baptist wore rough camel's hair (Matthew 3:4), so the cloak made a person look like a prophet. Instead, the shamed man will insist he is no prophet at all, just someone who works the ground, having been bought into service as a youth (13:5). If asked about wounds on his chest, he will say he got them at his friends' place (13:6); the text does not explain the wounds, though many readers connect them with the way the prophets of Baal cut themselves (1 Kings 18:28). Either way, the false prophets have been exposed and are desperate to hide what they were.
- Zechariah 13:4-6 (BSB)“And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive. He will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I work the land, for I was purchased as a servant in my youth.’ If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.’”Shamed false prophets abandon their garb and deny they ever prophesied.
- 2 Kings 1:8 (BSB)““He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.”Elijah was identified by his hairy look, the appearance the false prophets had imitated.
- Matthew 3:4 (BSB)“John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.”John the Baptist's rough clothing shows the kind of garb associated with prophets.
- 1 Kings 18:28 (BSB)“So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them.”Baal's prophets gashed their bodies, a practice many connect with the wounds in 13:6.
Theological
How does the shamed prophet of 13:4-5 deny his former calling?
Answer: He claims he is a farmer who was bought as a servant when young
False prophecy collapses into shame: the prophet disowns his vision and no longer puts on the hairy mantle to deceive (13:4), the garment associated with true prophets such as Elijah (2 Kings 1:8) and echoed in John the Baptist's camel-hair clothing (Matthew 3:4). He denies his vocation outright, claiming to be a tiller of the soil who was bought as a servant from his youth (13:5). Questioned about wounds on his chest, he says he received them among his friends (13:6); the text does not explain them, though many readers link them to the self-laceration of Baal's prophets (1 Kings 18:28). The deceivers have been unmasked and now try to conceal their former calling.
- Zechariah 13:4-6 (BSB)“And on that day every prophet who prophesies will be ashamed of his vision, and he will not put on a hairy cloak in order to deceive. He will say, ‘I am not a prophet; I work the land, for I was purchased as a servant in my youth.’ If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.’”Shamed false prophets abandon their garb and deny they ever prophesied.
- 2 Kings 1:8 (BSB)““He was a hairy man,” they answered, “with a leather belt around his waist.” “It was Elijah the Tishbite,” said the king.”Elijah was identified by his hairy look, the appearance the false prophets had imitated.
- Matthew 3:4 (BSB)“John wore a garment of camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey.”John the Baptist's rough clothing shows the kind of garb associated with prophets.
- 1 Kings 18:28 (BSB)“So they shouted louder and cut themselves with knives and lances, as was their custom, until the blood gushed over them.”Baal's prophets gashed their bodies, a practice many connect with the wounds in 13:6.
General
According to 13:1, what purpose does the fountain opened for David's house and Jerusalem serve?
Answer: To wash the people clean of their sin and uncleanness
Right after the people look on the One they pierced and mourn (12:10-14), the LORD promises to open a fountain for David's house and Jerusalem's inhabitants that will wash them clean from sin and uncleanness (13:1). The mourning of chapter 12 is met by cleansing in chapter 13: God Himself provides the way to be made clean. Ezekiel used a similar picture of God sprinkling pure water on His people to wash away their uncleanness and idols (Ezekiel 36:25). The New Testament says this cleansing comes through Christ: Jesus' blood, the blood of God's Son, washes believers clean of every sin (1 John 1:7).
- Zechariah 13:1 (BSB)““On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”After the mourning of chapter 12, God opens a source of cleansing for His people.
- Ezekiel 36:25 (BSB)“I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.”God promises to wash His people clean from impurity and idolatry, the same work as the fountain.
- 1 John 1:7 (BSB)“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”Jesus' blood is the means by which believers are cleansed from every sin.
- Hebrews 9:14 (BSB)“how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!”Christ's offering of Himself purifies the conscience, the inward cleansing the fountain pictures.
Theological
What purpose does 13:1 assign to the fountain opened for David's house and Jerusalem's inhabitants?
Answer: To wash the people clean of their sin and uncleanness
The cleansing fountain follows directly on the mourning over the pierced One (12:10-14): the LORD opens a fountain for David's house and Jerusalem's inhabitants to cleanse them of sin and uncleanness (13:1). Repentance is answered by a divinely provided cleansing, not a self-generated one. Ezekiel 36:25 promises the same washing from impurities and idols in the new-covenant context of a new heart and Spirit. The fountain finds its reality in Christ, whose blood cleanses from every sin (1 John 1:7) and cleanses the conscience from deeds that lead to death (Hebrews 9:14).
- Zechariah 13:1 (BSB)““On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.”After the mourning of chapter 12, God opens a source of cleansing for His people.
- Ezekiel 36:25 (BSB)“I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols.”God promises to wash His people clean from impurity and idolatry, the same work as the fountain.
- 1 John 1:7 (BSB)“But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.”Jesus' blood is the means by which believers are cleansed from every sin.
- Hebrews 9:14 (BSB)“how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself unblemished to God, purify our consciences from works of death, so that we may serve the living God!”Christ's offering of Himself purifies the conscience, the inward cleansing the fountain pictures.
General
In 13:3, how will the parents of someone who still prophesies respond to him?
Answer: They say he must die for speaking lies in the LORD's name
On that day the LORD will wipe out the idols' names so that no one remembers them, and He will clear the land of the prophets and of the unclean spirit (13:2). Here the prophets are those who speak lies, as the next verse shows. Anyone who still claims to prophesy will be condemned by his own parents, who tell him he cannot be allowed to live because he has told lies in the LORD's name, and they carry out the sentence (13:3). Loyalty to the LORD now outweighs even family ties. This follows the Law of Moses, which said a prophet who spoke in God's name without being sent must die (Deuteronomy 18:20), and that no family member who led others to false gods could be spared (Deuteronomy 13:6-9). Hosea also foretold that God would remove the Baals' names, the names of false gods, from His people's lips (Hosea 2:17).
- Zechariah 13:2-3 (BSB)“And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through.”The LORD removes idols and false prophets, and a false prophet's own parents condemn him.
- Deuteronomy 18:20 (BSB)“But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.””The law sentenced to death any prophet who spoke in God's name without His command.
- Deuteronomy 13:6-9 (BSB)“If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known, the gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, whether from one end of the earth or the other), you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare him or shield him. Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.”Even a close family member who drew others to false gods was not to be shielded.
- Hosea 2:17 (BSB)“For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.”Hosea also foresaw the names of false gods being wiped from the people's speech.
Theological
What is the response of a would-be prophet's own father and mother in 13:3?
Answer: They say he must die for speaking lies in the LORD's name
The cleansing of 13:1 extends to the land: the LORD will cut off the idols' names and clear the land of the prophets as well as the unclean spirit (13:2), the prophets here being false ones who speak lies. Zeal for the LORD's truth will be so complete that a false prophet's own father and mother pronounce sentence on him, because he has told lies in the LORD's name, and they carry it out (13:3). This applies the Mosaic law against prophets who presume to prophesy in the LORD's name (Deuteronomy 18:20) and against sparing even the closest relative who entices to other gods (Deuteronomy 13:6-9). Hosea 2:17 likewise promises that the Baals' names will be removed from Israel's lips.
- Zechariah 13:2-3 (BSB)“And on that day, declares the LORD of Hosts, I will erase the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered. I will also remove the prophets and the spirit of impurity from the land. And if anyone still prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will say to him, ‘You shall not remain alive, because you have spoken falsely in the name of the LORD.’ When he prophesies, his father and mother who bore him will pierce him through.”The LORD removes idols and false prophets, and a false prophet's own parents condemn him.
- Deuteronomy 18:20 (BSB)“But if any prophet dares to speak a message in My name that I have not commanded him to speak, or to speak in the name of other gods, that prophet must be put to death.””The law sentenced to death any prophet who spoke in God's name without His command.
- Deuteronomy 13:6-9 (BSB)“If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you embrace, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (which neither you nor your fathers have known, the gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, whether from one end of the earth or the other), you must not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity, and do not spare him or shield him. Instead, you must surely kill him. Your hand must be the first against him to put him to death, and then the hands of all the people.”Even a close family member who drew others to false gods was not to be shielded.
- Hosea 2:17 (BSB)“For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals; no longer will their names be invoked.”Hosea also foresaw the names of false gods being wiped from the people's speech.
General
True or False: In 13:9, the third that is brought through the fire will call on the LORD's name, and He will answer them and call them His people.
Answer: True
This is true. The LORD says that across the land two-thirds of the people will be destroyed and die, but one-third will remain (13:8). This remaining group He will put through the fire, refining them as silver is refined and testing them as gold is tested (13:9). The fire is painful, but its purpose is to purify, not destroy. The result is a restored relationship: they call on the LORD and He answers; He says they are His people, and they confess the LORD as their God. This is the covenant promise, God's binding commitment to His people, found throughout the prophets (Jeremiah 30:22; Hosea 2:23). Malachi pictures the LORD as a refiner purifying His people (Malachi 3:3), and Peter says believers' faith is proven genuine through trials like gold refined by fire (1 Peter 1:7).
- Zechariah 13:8-9 (BSB)“And in all the land, declares the LORD, two-thirds will be cut off and perish, but a third will be left in it. This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’””A remnant is refined through fire and brought into a renewed covenant bond with the LORD.
- Malachi 3:3 (BSB)“And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.”The LORD is pictured as a refiner purifying His people like precious metal.
- 1 Peter 1:7 (BSB)“so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”Trials refine and prove the faith of God's people as fire tests gold.
- Hosea 2:23 (BSB)“And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’””The same mutual declaration of people and God marks the restored covenant in Hosea.
Theological
True or False: According to 13:9, the refined third will call on the LORD's name and be answered, with the LORD claiming them as His people and they confessing Him as their God.
Answer: True
This is true. Two-thirds in the land are destroyed, while a third remains (13:8), and that remnant the LORD brings through the fire, refining them as silver and testing them as gold (13:9). The fire is purifying, not annihilating, and it issues in the covenant formula: they call on His name and He answers; He says they are His people, and they confess the LORD as their God (compare Jeremiah 30:22; Hosea 2:23). God preserves and purifies the people He claims as His own. Malachi 3:3 pictures the LORD as refiner of silver and gold, and 1 Peter 1:7 applies the refining image to the tested genuineness of believers' faith.
- Zechariah 13:8-9 (BSB)“And in all the land, declares the LORD, two-thirds will be cut off and perish, but a third will be left in it. This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’””A remnant is refined through fire and brought into a renewed covenant bond with the LORD.
- Malachi 3:3 (BSB)“And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver. Then they will present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.”The LORD is pictured as a refiner purifying His people like precious metal.
- 1 Peter 1:7 (BSB)“so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”Trials refine and prove the faith of God's people as fire tests gold.
- Hosea 2:23 (BSB)“And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’””The same mutual declaration of people and God marks the restored covenant in Hosea.
General
When does Jesus quote the words about the Shepherd being struck and the sheep scattered (13:7)?
Answer: After they left for the Mount of Olives, the night of His arrest
In 13:7 the LORD of Hosts Himself calls for the sword to awake against His Shepherd, the man who stands close beside Him as His Companion; when the Shepherd is struck, the sheep scatter. On the night He was betrayed, after the Last Supper, when He and His disciples had sung a hymn and left for the Mount of Olives, Jesus quoted this verse and told them they would all fall away because of Him that very night (Matthew 26:30-31; Mark 14:27). It happened just as He said: when He was arrested, every disciple abandoned Him and ran away (Matthew 26:56). The striking of the Shepherd was no accident; it happened by the plan God had set (Acts 2:23), carried out through the sinful acts of men.
- Zechariah 13:7 (BSB)“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.”The LORD calls for His Shepherd to be struck, and the flock is scattered.
- Matthew 26:30-31 (BSB)“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me. For it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”After they leave for the Mount of Olives, Jesus quotes this prophecy about Himself and His disciples.
- Mark 14:27 (BSB)“Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’”Mark records the same use of the verse by Jesus.
- Matthew 26:56 (BSB)“But this has all happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.”The disciples' flight at Jesus' arrest fulfills the scattering of the sheep.
- Acts 2:23 (BSB)“He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.”Peter says Jesus was handed over according to God's fixed purpose, yet killed by wicked men.
Theological
On what occasion does Jesus apply Zechariah 13:7 to Himself?
Answer: After they left for the Mount of Olives, the night of His arrest
The LORD of Hosts summons the sword against His own Shepherd, His Companion, the man closest to Him, and the striking of the Shepherd scatters the sheep (13:7). Jesus applies the verse to Himself on the night of His betrayal, after He and the disciples had left for the Mount of Olives, foretelling the disciples' falling away that very night (Matthew 26:30-31; Mark 14:27), and the prophecy is fulfilled when they all desert Him and flee (Matthew 26:56). The LORD is the One who wields the sword: the cross came about by the plan God had fixed beforehand (Acts 2:23), while those who crucified Him remained fully guilty.
- Zechariah 13:7 (BSB)“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the man who is My Companion, declares the LORD of Hosts. Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered, and I will turn My hand against the little ones.”The LORD calls for His Shepherd to be struck, and the flock is scattered.
- Matthew 26:30-31 (BSB)“And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Then Jesus said to them, “This very night you will all fall away on account of Me. For it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’”After they leave for the Mount of Olives, Jesus quotes this prophecy about Himself and His disciples.
- Mark 14:27 (BSB)“Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written: ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’”Mark records the same use of the verse by Jesus.
- Matthew 26:56 (BSB)“But this has all happened so that the writings of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples deserted Him and fled.”The disciples' flight at Jesus' arrest fulfills the scattering of the sheep.
- Acts 2:23 (BSB)“He was delivered up by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, and you, by the hands of the lawless, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross.”Peter says Jesus was handed over according to God's fixed purpose, yet killed by wicked men.