Zechariah 13:4

"It will happen that when anyone still prophesies, then his father and his mother who bore him will tell him, ‘You must die, because you speak lies in the LORD’s name;’ and his father and his mother who bore him will stab him when he prophesies."

Key Reflection

Zechariah 13:4 paints a vivid picture of a time when false prophecy would be rife, and true faith in God's word would become paramount. The original audience would have understood this as a warning against false prophets who spoke lies in the name of the LORD; such deception was so serious that even family members—father and mother—would confront and potentially kill those spreading false teachings, illustrating how deeply rooted the truth of God’s message needed to be in society.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

The prophets shall be ashamed, every one of them -They who before their conversion, gave themselves to such deceits, shall be ashamed of their deeds; as, after the defeat of the seven sons of the chief priest Sceva, “fear fall on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified, and many that believed came and confessed and showed their deeds: many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together and burned them before all, and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily,” Luke subjoins, “grew the word of God and prevailed”Acts 19:13-20.

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