¹ “ ‘On that day a well will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, ⌞to cleanse them from sin and from impurity⌟.¹

1. Literally “for sin and for impurity”

² ⌞And then⌟,¹ on that day,’ ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh of hosts, ‘I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they will no longer be remembered; and also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I will banish from the land.

1. Literally “And it will happen”
2. Literally “declaration of”

³ ⌞And then⌟,¹ if anyone prophesies again, his father and his mother who bore him will say to him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of Yahweh!” And his father and his mother who bore him will pierce him through when he prophesies.

1. Literally “And it will happen”

⁴ ⌞And then⌟¹ on that day, each of the prophets will be ashamed because of his vision when he was prophesying, and they will not put on a cloak of hair in order to deceive,

1. Literally “And it will happen”

⁵ but he will say, “I am not a prophet; I am a tiller of the soil, for a man has acquired me since my youth.”¹

1. Other translations read “for the land has been my possession since my youth”

The Sword Shall Strike the Shepherd

⁶ And someone¹ shall say to him, “What are these wounds ⌞between your arms⌟?”² and he will say, “Those I have received³ in the house of the ones who love me.” ’ ”

1. Hebrew “he”
2. Literally “between your hands”; that is, on the chest or on the back
3. Hebrew “have been struck”

⁷ “O sword, awake against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” ⌞declares⌟¹ Yahweh of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, so that the sheep² may be scattered, and I will turn my hand against the small ones.

1. Literally “declaration of”
2. Or “flock”; the Hebrew term refers collectively to both sheep and goats (small livestock animals)

⁸ ⌞And then⌟¹ in all the land,” ⌞declares⌟² Yahweh, “⌞two thirds⌟³ will be cut off and perish, and one third will be left alive⁴ in it.

1. Literally “And it will happen”
2. Literally “declaration of”
3. Literally “a mouth of two”
4. Hebrew “left over”

⁹ And I will bring the remaining third into the fire, and I will refine them like one refines silver, and I will test them like one tests gold. They¹ will call my name, and I will answer them.² I will say, ‘They³ are my people,’ and they⁴ will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’ ”

1. Hebrew “He”
2. Hebrew “him”
3. Hebrew “He”
4. Hebrew “he”