Zechariah 13

At that time, God will continually cleanse the descendants of King David and the people who live in Jerusalem; he will forgive the sins that they have committed and take away everything that has made them impure.

God, the commander of the heavenly armies, declares, “At that time I will destroy all the idols in the land, so that no one will even speak their names or remember them anymore. I will also drive out of the land those who falsely claim to be prophets, along with the impure spirit that controls them. \*

If anyone still prophesies falsely, his own father and mother, the ones who gave birth to him, will tell him that he must die, because he has lied by claiming that he was speaking with my authority. Then, while he is prophesying, his own father and mother, who gave birth to him, will stab him to death. \*

At that time, every one of those prophets will feel ashamed of the visions that he claimed to see when he prophesied. None of them will wear the rough garment of animal hair that prophets wear, because they will no longer try to deceive people.

Instead, each one will say, ‘I am not a prophet. I am a farmer; a man sold me to this land’s owner when I was young.’

If someone asks him, ‘Then what are these wounds on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘Someone wounded me at the house of my friends.’” \* 7 God, the commander of the heavenly armies, says this: “I command that someone kill with a sword the leader who cares for my people, the man who is my close associate. When someone strikes that leader down, the people whom he led will scatter in every direction, and I myself will attack even the lowliest people among them.” \* 8 God declares, “Throughout the whole land, two out of every three people will certainly die, and only one third of the people will remain alive. 9 I will cause that remaining third to suffer greatly in order to purify them, just as a person refines silver and tests gold by heating them in a fire. Then they will call out to me for help, and I will answer them. I will tell them that they are my people, and they will declare that I, God, am their God.” \*