HOLY BIBLE: Zechariah 13 (original) (raw)

7 ῥομφαία ἐξεγέρθητι ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιμένας μου καὶ ἐ{P'} ἄνδρα πολίτην μου λέγει κύριος παντοκράτωρ πατάξατε τοὺς ποιμένας καὶ ἐκσπάσατε τὰ πρόβατα καὶ ἐπάξω τὴν χεῖρά μου ἐπὶ τοὺς ποιμένας 8 καὶ ἔσται ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ λέγει κύριος τὰ δύο μέρη ἐξολεθρευθήσεται καὶ ἐκλείψει τὸ δὲ τρίτον ὑπολειφθήσεται ἐν αὐτῇ 9 καὶ διάξω τὸ τρίτον διὰ πυρὸς καὶ πυρώσω αὐτούς ὡς πυροῦται τὸ ἀργύριον καὶ δοκιμῶ αὐτούς ὡς δοκιμάζεται τὸ χρυσίον αὐτὸς ἐπικαλέσεται τὸ ὄνομά μου κἀγὼ ἐπακούσομαι αὐτῷ καὶ ἐρῶ λαός μου οὗτός ἐστιν καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρεῖ κύριος ὁ θεός μου

7 Up, sword, and attack this shepherd of mine, neighbour of mine, says the Lord of hosts.[4]

Smite shepherd, and his flock shall scatter; so upon the common folk my vengeance shall fall. 8 All over this land, the Lord says, two thirds of them are forfeit to destruction, only a third shall be left to dwell there; 9 and this third part, through fire I will lead them; purged they shall be as silver is purged, tried as gold is tried. Theirs on my name to call, their plea mine to grant; My own people, so I greet them, and they answer, The Lord is my own God.

7 Framea, suscitare super pastorem meum, et super virum cohærentem mihi, dicit Dominus exercituum: percute pastorem, et dispergentur oves: et convertam manum meam ad parvulos. 8 Et erunt in omni terra, dicit Dominus: partes duæ in ea dispergentur, et deficient: et tertia pars relinquetur in ea. 9 Et ducam tertiam partem per ignem, et uram eos sicut uritur argentum, et probabo eos sicut probatur aurum. Ipse vocabit nomen meum, et ego exaudiam eum. Dicam: Populus meus es: et ipse dicet: Dominus Deus meus.

[1] The meaning of the second half of this verse is quite uncertain.

[2] Literally, ‘between thy hands’, a difficult phrase most inadequately interpreted by some moderns as meaning ‘on thy back’. If the sacred author had meant ‘between thy arms’, he would surely have said so, as in IV Kg. 9.24.

[3] Literally, ‘my lovers’; elsewhere in the Old Testament this word always refers to false gods, as the ‘lovers’ with whom Israel committed adultery. If the false prophet is referred to, it is not easy to see what injuries he had sustained, why any question was asked about them, what answer was expected, or what was meant by the answer given.

[4] ‘Neighbour’; the word is not likely to be what the prophet wrote. Elsewhere it is only a legal term meaning ‘a second party’. The second half of the verse may be a continuation of the first; but if so the direction ‘Smite!’ cannot be addressed to the sword, which would require a feminine, not a masculine formation of the verb.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd