Gray dawn on a bare hillside: a low stone sheepfold with its gate gap open, a few sheep gathered close beside it, mist in the valley below.

On that day

Zechariah 13

What would you let God burn away to keep you?

9 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

Tap any post to go deeper

Where we are

1:1–6Return to MeA call to turn, in Darius’s second year
1:7–6:8Eight night visionsHorses, horns, a lampstand, a scroll, a basket, chariots
6:9–15The Branch crownedA crown for Joshua, and the Branch who builds
7–8Fasts to feastsJustice and mercy, and joy in Zion
9–11Your King comesThe King on a donkey, and the Shepherd rejected
12–14On that dayThe pierced One, the fountain, the LORD KingChapter 13

An End to Idolatry

God

Morning below a stony slope: clear water welling up out of a fresh cleft in the bedrock, spilling over a rough stone basin and running away bright down the valley floor.

“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.

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

God

God

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.

God

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.

God

God

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.’

Reflect

Zechariah 13:1–6 clears out everything false: idols, lying words, disguises. Is there a disguise you keep wearing, even before God, that you would be ashamed to keep on in His light?

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered

God

God

Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered,

and I will turn My hand against the little ones.

God

And in all the land,

declares the LORD,

two-thirds will be cut off and perish,

but a third will be left in it.

God

God

This third I will bring through the fire;

I will refine them like silver

and test them like gold.

God

Early morning at a plain fieldstone altar outside a small, poor Jerusalem: a few families seen from behind, standing with open hands lifted, thin smoke rising straight into a clear sky.

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.’”

0:15

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

Read 13:7 again before you answer.

On the night He was arrested, Jesus quoted 13:7. What did He mean by it?

You’ve experienced

Zechariah 13

0 of 14 chapters read

A verse to carry with you

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.’

Zechariah 13:9

or swipe left