Zechariah 13:5

5 But he will say, I am no prophet, but a worker on the land; for I have been an owner of land from the time when I was young.

Zechariah 13:5 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 13:5

But he shall say, I [am] no prophet
That he is not of the Romish clergy, or of any of their religious orders, having laid aside his habit: I [am] an husbandman;
he shall put on the habit of a husbandman, and work for his bread; for he will not be able to support himself, as before, with the sale of pardons and indulgences, and by praying souls out of purgatory; for no man hereafter will buy of his merchandise, ( Revelation 18:11 ) and he will be ashamed of his former calling and traffic, and will not own that he was ever concerned therein; but will affirm that he was never of the Romish clergy, but always a layman, and employed in husbandry: for man taught me to keep cattle from my youth;
he will say he was brought up to husbandry, or in some mechanic business, from his youth, and never was in any convent or monastery, or of any religious order: it may be rendered, "for man made me to work from my youth" ^F21; and is not to be restrained to keeping cattle, or any particular employment.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F21 (ynnqh) "fecerunt me operari", Noldius; "homo operari fecit me", De Dieu, Burkius.

Zechariah 13:5 In-Context

3 And if anyone goes on acting as a prophet, then his father and his mother who gave him life will say to him, You may not go on living, for you are saying what is false in the name of the Lord; and his father and his mother will put a sword through him when he does so.

4 And it will come about in that day that the prophets will be shamed, every man on account of his vision, when he is talking as a prophet; and they will not put on a robe of hair for purposes of deceit:

5 But he will say, I am no prophet, but a worker on the land; for I have been an owner of land from the time when I was young.

6 And if anyone says to him, What are these wounds between your hands? then he will say, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.

7 Awake! O sword, against the keeper of my flock, and against him who is with me, says the Lord of armies: put to death the keeper of the sheep, and the sheep will go in flight: and my hand will be turned against the little ones.