Zechariah 13:7 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Zechariah 13:7
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
to wake (literally or figuratively) · verb, qal imperative, 2nd person feminine singular
sword
חֶ֗רֶבChe.rev
H2719
drought · noun, common feminine singular absolute
shepherd
רֹעִי֙ro.'I
H7462
to tend a flock · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
man
גֶּ֣בֶרGe.ver
H1397
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct
fellow
עֲמִיתִ֔י'a.mi.Ti
H5997
companionship · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
saith
נְאֻ֖םne.'Um
H5002
an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֣הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
hosts
צְבָא֑וֹתtze.va.'ot
H6635
a mass of persons (or figuratively · noun, common feminine plural absolute
smite
הַ֤ךְhakh
H5221
to strike (lightly or severely · verb, hiphil imperative, 2nd person masculine singular
shepherd
הָֽרֹעֶה֙ha.ro.'Eh
H7462
to tend a flock · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
sheep
הַצֹּ֔אןha.Tzon
H6629
a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats) · definite article + noun, common both genders singular absolute
scattered
וּתְפוּצֶ֣יןָu.te.fu.Tzei.na
H6327
to dash in pieces · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person feminine plural
turn
וַהֲשִׁבֹתִ֥יva.ha.shi.vo.Ti
H7725
to turn back (hence · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential perfect, 1st person common singular
hand
יָדִ֖יya.Di
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix
ones
הַצֹּעֲרִֽיםha.tzo.'a.Rim
H6819
to be small · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Mark 14:27 And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep sh…
Matthew 26:31 Then saith Jesus unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep o…
John 16:32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alon…
Isaiah 40:11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those th…
Ezekiel 37:24 And David my servant shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my sta…
Jeremiah 23:5-6 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execut…
Micah 5:2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Zechariah 13:7–end
Here is a prophecy,
I. Of the sufferings of Christ, of him who was to be pierced, and was to be the fountain opened. Awake, O sword! against my Shepherd, Zac 13:7. These are the words of God the Father, giving order and commission to the sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he had voluntarily made his soul an offering for sin; for it pleased the Lord to bruise him and put him to grief; and he was stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, Isa 53:4, Isa 53:10. Observe, 1. How he calls him. "As God, he is my fellow;" for he thought it no robbery to be equal with God. He and the Father are one. He was from eternity by him, as one brought up with him, and, in the work of man's redem…
Expounded by Christ as referring to Himself (Mat 26:31-32). Thus it is a resumption of the prophecy of His betrayal (Zac 11:4, Zac 11:10, Zac 11:13-14), and the subsequent punishment of the Jews. It explains the mystery why He, who came to be a blessing, was cut off while bestowing the blessing. God regards sin in such a fearful light that He spared not His own co-equal Son in the one Godhead, when that Son bore the sinner's guilt.
Awake--Compare a similar address to the sword of justice personified (Jer 46:6-7). For "smite" (imperative), Mat 26:31 has "I will smite." The act of the sword, it is thus implied, is GOD'S act. So the prophecy in Isa 6:9, "Hear ye," is imperative; the fulfilmen…
Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd - This is generally understood of Jesus Christ. The sword is that of Divine justice which seemed to have been long asleep, and should long ago have struck either Man, or his Substitute, the Messiah. Jesus is here called God's Shepherd, because he had appointed him to feed and govern, as well as to save, the whole lost world. This is a prosopopoeia, and the address to the sword is very poetic. There is a fine passage in Aeschylus to the same effect: -
Ξενος δε κληροις επινωμᾳ,
Χαλυβος Σκυθων αποικας,
Κτεανων χρηματοδαιτας
Πικρος, ωμοφρων σιδαρος,
Χθονα ναιειν διαπηλας
Ὁποσαν αν και φθιμενοισι κατεχειν,
Των μεγαλων πεδιων αμοιροις,
Aeschyl. Sept. cont. He…
The Church Fathers
I will smite the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered. Of this passage also the Lord made mention at the time of his Passion, applying it to himself when he was on the point of being betrayed.
Christ spoke of the betrayer; he foretold that all would run away; he predicted his own death. "I shall smite the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered." He foretold who was going to deny him, when he would do so, and how many times it would happen. He predicted everything accurately. After he had foretold all these things as a sufficient proof that he possessed knowledge of what was going to happen, he went to a certain place to pray. The heretics say that the prayer is the prayer of the divinity; we say it is the prayer of the plan of redemption.
Moreover, the prophet Zechariah foretold that this same Christ would be smitten, and His disciples scattered: which also took place. For after His crucifixion, the disciples that accompanied Him were dispersed, until He rose from the dead, and persuaded them that so it had been prophesied concerning Him, that He would suffer; and being thus persuaded, they went into all the world, and taught these truths. Hence also we are strong in His faith and doctrine, since we have [this our] persuasion both from the prophets, and from those who throughout the world are seen to be worshippers of God in the name of that crucified One. The following is said, too, by Zechariah: "O sword, rise up against My Shepherd, and against the man of My people, saith the Lord of hosts. Smite the Shepherd, and His flock shall be scattered."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Atonement, The · Foretold — Foretold
Christ Is God · As Jehovah’s Fellow and Equal — As Jehovah’s Fellow and Equal
Christ, The Shepherd · His sheep: He laid down his life for — His sheep: He laid down his life for
Death Of Christ, The · Foretold — Foretold
Prophecies Respecting Christ · His disciples forsaking him — His disciples forsaking him
Shepherds · Illustrative: Of Christ as the good shepherd — Illustrative: Of Christ as the good shepherd
Sword, The · Illustrative: Of the justice of God — Illustrative: Of the justice of God
Titles And Names Of Christ · God’s fellow — God’s fellow
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,.... Not Judas Maccabeus, slain in battle by Bacchis (w), as Grotius fancies; but Christ, Jehovah's Shepherd; for these are the words of Jehovah the Father, concerning his Son, whom he calls "my Shepherd"; because he has a property in him, as well as in the flock; and he was chosen, called, set up, and sent as such by him; on whom he laid the straying of all the sheep; and who as such died and rose again, and is accountable to his divine Father for the flock committed to him: by "the sword" awoke against him are meant either the sorrows and afflictions of Christ, which, like a sword, pierced through his soul; or the violent death he was put to, being stric…
Zechariah 13:7
7. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.
7. Gladie, (vel, framea,) expergiscere super pastorem meum, et super virum socium meum, dicit Iehova exercituum; percute pastorem, et dispergentur oves; et reducam manum meam super parvulos.
It was pleasant and delightful to hear what the Prophet said at the beginning of the chapter, for he promised that a fountain would be opened, by which the Jews might cleanse away all their filth, and that God, having been reconciled, would be bountiful to them. As then he had promise…
Zac 13:7. "Arise, O sword, over my shepherd, and over the man who is my neighbour, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts: smite the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; and I will bring back my hand over the little ones. Zac 13:8. And it will come to pass in all the land, is the saying of Jehovah; two parts therein shall be cut off, shall die, and the third remains therein. Zac 13:9. And the third will I bring into the fire, and melt them as silver is melted, and will refine them as gold is refined: it will call upon my name, and I will answer it; I say, It is my people; and it will say, Jehovah my God." The summons addressed to the sword, to awake and smite, is a poetical turn to express…
This message describes a coming day when God’s appointed shepherd of Israel would be struck down, and the sheep (the people of Israel) would be scattered. A portion of the nation would be given over to divine judgment, while part of the nation would experience spiritual renewal, fulfilling Zechariah’s vision of God once again among his people (see 1:16; 2:5, 10-11; 8:3, 23). The Gospel writers connect portions of this passage (13:7) to the scattering of Jesus’ disciples as a result of the events surrounding his arrest, trial, and execution by the Romans (see Matt 26:31, 56).
13:7 The sword is personified as a warrior being called to awake in battle, heightening its image as God’s servant, a…
O sword, awaken against My shepherd Against the one whom I appointed over the flock of My exile.
and against the man who is associated with Me whom I associated with Me to watch My flocks as I do.
Smite the shepherd The king of the border of wickedness.
and the flock shall scatter The flock subjected to his rule; lit. pressed down under his hand.
and I will return My hand And I will repeat My blows a second time.
upon the little ones Upon the rulers who are smaller than the kings. And Jonathan renders: and the flock shall scatter And the rulers shall scatter, and he renders: upon the little ones Their officers, who are second to them. And so did Jonathan render this verse as referring t…
