The list maker (list of 365 supposed prophecies of Jesus) has tied four claims to Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:7. Which is strange. Because this chapter is not about the messiah.: It is about false prophets. So, if any of this chapter applies to Jesus the missionary is admitting that Jesus was a false prophet. No? Then this chapter is not about Jesus. The previous chapter,Z'charyah / Zechariah 12, spoke of a great battle for Jerusalem that may happen (if there is a war preceding the messiah). Now G-d says that after the war ends idolatry will cease, a spring will flow in Jerusalem for ritual purity, G-d will remove false prophets and even the יֵצֶר הַרַע / yetzer hara (evil inclination) will go away. This is the messianic era -- a time of peace, global knowledge of G-d and the end of idolatry and false prophecy. Next G-d calls for a sword to be unsheathed against a shepherd - that he be struck and the sheep be scattered. What sheep? G-d's flock are the Jews and the shepherds are the nations tending that flock while Israel is in exile. The nations have been bad shepherds with respect to tending the flock of Israel. G-d put Israel into these shepherd's hands and history has shown that these shepherds have not been kind to Israel in exile. It is interesting that the list maker does not mention Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:6 -- because missionaries usually point to it as being about Jesus. It says: "And one will say to him, "What are these wounds between your hands?" And he shall say, "That I was smitten in the house of my friends." Wounds between your hands! The missionaries will say: Jesus had nails put into his hands in the crucifixion -- this has to be about Jesus! He had wounds in his hands! To complicate matters (and probably to make it seem more like Jesus) the King James Version (KJV) mistranslates verse 6 as "What are these wounds in thine hands?" "In" your hands, not "between" your hands. The mistranslated word is בֵּ֣ין / bein, a preposition meaning between or among. As with many proof texts the KJV manages to translate it correctly (as "between) in Genesis 9:16, Genesis 15:17 and so on. To understand who has wounds between their hands one must read the verse in context. The one with wounds between his hands is a false prophet. This could only be Jesus if he is a false prophet who is being killed. "And it shall come to pass on that day, says the L-rd of Hosts: I will cut off the names of the idols from the earth, and they shall no longer be mentioned. And also the prophets and the spirit of contamination I will remove from the earth. And it shall come to pass, if a man still prophesies, that his father and his mother-his parents-shall say to him, "You shall not live, for you have spoken falsely in the name of the L-rd." And his father and his mother-his parents-shall thrust him through because of his prophesying. And it shall come to pass on that day that the prophets shall be ashamed, each one of his vision when he prophesies; and they will not wear a hairy mantle in order to lie." Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:2 - 4. It is interesting that the claim that Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:6 is ignored on the list of 365 supposed prophecies fulfilled by Jesus -- the wounds between the hands is usually one mentioned, even though it is about false prophets and not the messiah. What of the claim that the messiah will die for mankind? Again -- this chapter is about false prophets -- and we are told that the parents will say that the false prophet deserves to die his actions -- but no one is actually killed. There is not one word, let alone a suggestion, that the false prophet dies for anyone's sins (but his own) -- let alone all of mankind. What of Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:7 -- the one claimed by the list maker? G-d calls His sword against the emperor of Rome. When He strikes him down, his subordinate rulers will scatter and their officers will fall. "O sword, awaken against My shepherd and against the man who is associated with Me! says the L-rd of Hosts. Smite the shepherd, and the flock shall scatter, and I will return My hand upon the little ones." Context, context, context! This is not a prophecy that Jesus would be smitten and his flock scattered, or that he would die for mankind. It is about false prophets, their fate, and then what will happen to the foreign rulers in the messianic age (after a final war, if there is one). The chapter ends (Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:7 - 9) discussing the punishment of those who have been the enemies of the Jewish people prior to the messianic age. In these verse the shepherds represent the leaders of the non-Jewish nations to whom G-d entrusted the fate of the Jews (the flock) while we were in exile from the land of Israel. For those who harmed His people G-d will unleash the sword against them. "And it shall come to pass throughout all the land, says the L-rd, two parts of it shall be cut off. They shall perish, and the third shall remain therein. And I will bring the third in fire; and I will refine them as one refines silver, and I will test them as one tests gold. He shall call in My name, and I will respond to him. I said, "He is My people"; and he shall say, "The L-rd is my G-d." Z'charyah / Zechariah 13:8 - 9.
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