Zechariah 13:8

Zechariah 13:8 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.
• New International Version (NIV)In the whole land,” declares the Lord, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it.
• English Standard Version (ESV)In the whole land, declares the Lord, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive.
• New King James Version (NKJV)And it shall come to pass in all the land,” Says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, But one–third shall be left in it:

Context of Zechariah 13:8

6If someone asks him, “Who cut your body?” he will answer, “My friends cut me when I was at their house.” ’ 7‘Attack my shepherd with a sharp knife. Attack the man that is next to me,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Kill the shepherd and then the sheep will run away. Then I will attack the young sheep. In the whole country,’ says the Lord, ‘two thirds of the people will die. But one third will still be living there. 9I will bring these people through fire. As men clean silver in the fire, so I will clean them. As men test gold in the fire, so I will test them. They will speak my name and I will answer them. I will say, “They are my people.” They will say, “The Lord is our God.” ’

Zechariah 13:8 word by word

וְהָיָ֤ה בְכָל־הָאָ֙רֶץ֙ נְאֻם־יְהוָ֔ה פִּֽי־שְׁנַ֣יִם בָּ֔הּ יִכָּרְת֖וּ יִגְוָ֑עוּ וְהַשְּׁלִשִׁ֖ית יִוָּ֥תֶר בָּֽהּ׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• in all the landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
• saithנְאֻםne'ûm · utteranceH5002
• the Lordיְהֹוָהyehôvâh · LORDH3068
• twoשְׁנַ֫יִםshenayim shettayim · twoH8147
• partsפֶּהpeh · lip: one thirdH6310
• therein shall be cut offכָּרַתkârath · to cut: eliminateH3772
• dieגָּוַעgâva‛ · to dieH1478
• but the thirdשְׁלִישִׁיshelîyshîy · thirdH7992
• shall be leftיָתַרyâthar · to remainH3498

Cross-references for Zechariah 13:8

• Zechariah 11:6The Lord says, ‘The people in this country were my people, but they are not my people now. I will not go on being kind to them. I myself will give them to their enemies and to foreign kings. The foreign kings will do very bad things to the country, but I will not come to help.’
• Deuteronomy 28:49The Lord will bring a nation from far away in the world to attack you. You will not understand their language. They will come quickly to attack you, like an eagle that comes down from the sky.
• Isaiah 65:12So this will be your fate: a sword will kill you. You will all bend down low for someone to kill you. This will happen because you did not answer me when I spoke to you. You did not even listen to my words. You did evil things against me. You chose to do things that I would hate.’
• Isaiah 66:4So I will cause great trouble to come to them. It will be the trouble that they are so afraid of. When I called out to them, nobody answered me. When I spoke to them, nobody listened. They did evil things against me. They chose to do things that I would hate.’
• Ezekiel 5:2Wait until all the days when you are lying on your side have finished. Take one part of your hair and burn it on the brick which has the picture of Jerusalem. Take another part and use a sword to cut it into small pieces. Let the pieces fall all around the brick which shows the city. Then take the third part and throw the hairs into the wind. I will run after them with a sword.
• Daniel 9:27The foreign ruler will make an agreement with many people. That agreement will continue for one week. In the middle of that week, he will stop the sacrifices and offerings in the temple. Instead, he will put a disgusting thing there that causes trouble. It will remain there until God finally destroys the ruler who destroys. His end will happen at the time that God has decided.’
• Malachi 3:1‘Look! I will send someone to speak my message. He will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord that you are waiting for will quickly return to his temple. The one who brings the message about the covenant will certainly come. He is the one that you really want to see.’ That is what the Lord Almighty says.
• Malachi 4:1‘The great day when I come to judge people will certainly happen. Punishment will come like the great fire of a hot oven. It will destroy all the proud people who do evil things. It will completely destroy them, like a fire that destroys dry grass. Nothing will remain.’ That is what the Lord Almighty says.
• Matthew 3:10You are like trees that have bad fruit. God has an axe ready to use. He will cut down every tree that does not make good fruit. He will throw those trees into the fire.
• Matthew 21:43I tell you this: Because you do not believe in me, God will take his kingdom away from you. He will give it to people who show that they obey him.
• Matthew 22:7The king was very angry. He sent his soldiers to the city where those people lived. They killed the people who killed the king's servants. They destroyed their city with fire.
• Matthew 23:35Because of all this, God will punish you for all the good people that you and your ancestors have killed. Long ago, Abel was the first of those good people. You also killed Zechariah, the son of Berekiah. He died in the yard of the temple near the altar.
• Matthew 24:21Great troubles will happen to people at that time. Nothing as bad has ever happened before, since the beginning of the world. Nothing as bad will ever happen again.
• Luke 19:41When Jesus got near to the city, he looked at it. He cried because he felt very sorry for the people in it.
• Luke 20:16I tell you, he will come to those farmers and he will kill them. Then he will give the garden to other people to take care of it.’ When the people heard this, they replied, ‘That must never happen!’
• Luke 21:20One day you will see Jerusalem with armies all around it. Then you will know that enemies will soon destroy that city.

Commentaries on Zechariah 13:8

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 8Two parts therein shall be cut off - In the war with the Romans. But the third shall be left - Those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be preserved alive; and not one of these perished in the siege, or afterwards, by those wars.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 8In all the land, two parts therein shall be cut off and die - “In all the land of Israel,” says a Jewish interpreter; (Kimchi); “ - the land, in which the Good Shepherd had been slain and the sheep scattered, “that upon you.” our Lord had said, “may come all the righteous blood.” As David punished Moab, “with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive” 2 Samuel 8:2; and Ezekiel prophesied, “A third part of thee shall die…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-9Verses 7-9 Here is a prophecy of the sufferings of Christ. God the Father gave order to the sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he freely made his soul an offering for sin. As God, he is called "my Fellow." Christ and the Father are one. He is the Shepherd who was to lay down his life for the sheep. If a Sacrifice, he must be slain, for without shedding of the life-blood there was no remission. This sword must awake against him, yet he had…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 8two-thirds … a third: The divine judgment would be catastrophic. However, God would save a small group and forgive their sin (see Isaiah 65:9; Jeremiah 50:20; Ezekiel 5:2–12; Revelation 9:15–18).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 8-98-9. Two-thirds of the Jewish nation were to perish in the Roman wars, and a third to survive. Probably from the context (Zec 14:2-9), which has never yet been fulfilled, the destruction of the two-thirds (literally, "the proportion of two," or "portion of two") and the saving of the remnant, the one-third, are still future, and to be fulfilled under Antichrist.Read the comment

In the dictionaries

• Awake
• Fellow
• Refine
• Bible, the
• Number
• Portion; Part
• Salvation
• Zechariah, Book of
• perish

Commentaries on Zechariah 13

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings