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Zechariah / Chapter 13
God declares a time when cleansing is opened, deceitful worship and speech are removed, and a striking that scatters the flock leads through heavy loss to a smaller people tested and brought back into a renewed bond with him.
In that day there shall be a spring opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
It shall come to pass in that day, says Yahweh of Hosts, that I will cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they shall no more be remembered; and also I will cause the prophets and the unclean spirit to pass out of the land.
It shall happen that, when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother who became the father of him shall tell him, You shall not live; for you speak lies in the name of Yahweh; and his father and his mother who became the father of him shall thrust him through when he prophesies.
It shall happen in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed everyone of his vision, when he prophesies; neither shall they wear a hairy mantle to deceive:
but he shall say, I am no prophet, I am a tiller of the ground; for I have been made a bondservant from my youth.
One shall say to him, What are these wounds between your arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
Awake, sword, against my shepherd, and against the man who is my fellow, says Yahweh of Hosts: strike the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered; and I will turn my hand on the little ones.
It shall happen, that in all the land, says Yahweh, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, Yahweh is my God.
Zechariah journey ยท Zechariah 13
Full passage context
Start with the map and timeline, then explore verse notes, background, theology, questions, and related passages.
Visions, temple rebuilding, messianic hope, and kingdom renewal converge.
Movement
Restoration and coming King
Artifact
Night visions and messianic hope
Biblical Timeline
Exile & Return
Zechariah context: 586 BC - 400 BC
Zechariah context
Exile & Return / 586 BC - 400 BC
Zechariah context is set in the exile and return, where Babylonian exile, return, rebuilding, and renewed covenant life under Persian rule.
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Context snapshot
Date
Early post-exilic ministry beginning in 520 BC
Genre
Prophetic visions and oracles
Setting
Jerusalem/Judah
Audience
Returned community in Judah
World Stage
Darius I 522-486 BC
Zechariah ministers in the early post-exilic period while the temple is being rebuilt. Night visions, prophetic signs, and royal-priestly hope encourage a fragile community to trust God's future for Jerusalem.
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