What Does Zechariah 13:3 Mean in the King James?
And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The LORD’s name does not authenticate a prophetic voice: the verse calls its speech a lie and shows the speaker pierced by his own parents.
THE MEANING
A mouth can speak in the LORD’s name and still speak a lie; the name does not make the speech true. Here the answer is violent and unsoftened: father and mother say the speaker must not live, then pierce him while he prophesies. The verse holds the sacred claim and the killing in the same frame.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
Invoking the LORD’s name does not prove that a speaker carries the LORD’s truth.
THE ROOT
וּדְקָרֻהוּ
ūdəqārūhū
GROWS FROM
דקר
d-q-r
To pierce or stab through.
“thrust him through” in this verse is ūdəqārūhū. The Hebrew verb is the same piercing verb found in Zechariah 12:10, where a pierced figure is seen and mourned. The root keeps the physical violence in view; it does not soften the act into mere rejection.
ALSO GROWS
dāqar: To pierce or stab.
דָּקַר
This is the verb’s basic form and makes the force of “thrust him through” unmistakable.
dāqārū: They pierced.
דָּקָרוּ
This form appears in Zechariah 12:10, joining this household killing to the pierced figure there.
יִנָּבֵא
yinnāvēʾ
GROWS FROM
נבא
n-b-ʾ
To speak prophetically.
“prophesy” in this verse is yinnāvēʾ. The verse uses the same prophetic word for the speaker’s act and then names that speech false. The role or form of prophecy alone does not make the message true.
ALSO GROWS
nāḇîʾ: Prophet.
נָבִיא
The noun names the speaker, while this verse shows that the title does not settle whether the speech is true.
nəḇûʾāh: Prophecy.
נְבוּאָה
The related noun names the prophetic utterance that remains answerable to the truth of what it says.
שֶׁקֶר
sheqer
GROWS FROM
שקר
sh-q-r
Falsehood or deceit; to act falsely.
“lies” in this verse is sheqer. The charge is false speech, not merely speech someone dislikes. The phrase “in the name of the LORD” invokes שֵׁם (shem, name as nature): the falsehood contradicts the nature it claims to represent.
ALSO GROWS
shāqar: To lie or act falsely.
שָׁקַר
The verb form shows falsehood as an act of speech and conduct.
sheqārîm: Lies or falsehoods.
שְׁקָרִים
This plural form makes the accusation concrete: the speech carries falsehoods while invoking the LORD’s name.
THE PATTERN
A claim to speak for God remains answerable to whether its words are true.
But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.THE THREAD
And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.The same Hebrew root, דקר (d-q-r), lies behind “thrust him through” here and “pierced” in Zechariah 12:10. The root connects this household killing with a pierced figure who becomes the object of looking and mourning.
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