Zechariah 13
There will be no false_prophets
1On that day there will be a fountain where the descendants of King David and the people of Jerusalem will wash away their sin and impurity. 2The Lord who rules over all says: ‘On that day I will make the names of all the idols disappear. No one in the land will remember those gods or think about them. I will also take away from the land their false_prophets and everyone who is impure. 3If there is anyone who wants to be a prophet of the idols, his parents, his father and his mother will say to him: “You must die because you tell lies and then you say it is God who has sent you.”
His parents, his father and his mother will kill him if he starts to prophesy.
4On that day every prophet will be ashamed because he said it was God who showed him what would happen. He will take off the clothes that made people think that he was a prophet. He will not put on a dress made from material of hair of a goat again. 5He will say: “I am not a prophet. I am a farmer. Yes, I have worked on my own land from the time that I was young.”
6And if someone asks him: “Why do you have wounds on your chest?” He will say: “Someone beat me when I visited my friends.” ’
The Lord will say the Israelites are his people
7The Lord who rules over all says:
‘Sword, you must come.
You must kill the shepherd,
the one who is near to Me.
You must kill the shepherd.
Then the sheep will run away from each other
and I will also kill the lambs.
8The sheep are my people but 2 3rds of them
will die and one 3rd of them will stay alive.
9And I will purify this 3rd that is left over,
like people melt silver and gold in fire
to make it pure.
Then my people will pray to Me
and I will listen to their prayers.
I will say: “They are my people,”
and they will say: “The Lord is our God.” ’
English Bible for the Deaf © Bible Society of South Africa 2019. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
