Zechariah 13:6
in Zechariah 13If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your chest?’ he will answer, ‘These are the wounds I received in the house of my friends.’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds between thine arms? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
KJV
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.
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This verse in Zechariah 13
Commentary
8 notes on this verse(Vers. 3 seqq.) And on that day, the prophets will be confused, each one from his own vision, when he prophesies, and they will not cover themselves with a sackcloth to deceive. Instead, they will say, 'I am not a prophet, I am a farmer, for Adam is my example from my youth.' And it will be said to him, 'What are these wounds in the middle of your hands?' And he will say, 'I have been wounded in the house of those who love me.'
This site's exposition
ashamed every one of his vision
on Zechariah 13:4-6
The false prophets of that day are ashamed of their own visions and no longer wear the rough hairy garment that once marked their office, choosing instead to deny the title outright, calling themselves husbandmen taught to keep cattle from their youth. Asked about wounds in his hands, the denying prophet answers that he was wounded in the house of his friends, a line most of the bench reads as the self-inflicted marks pagan prophets cut into their own flesh in ecstatic worship, now embarrassing evidence he must explain away. Henry and Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown also note the verse's language has long been read typologically of Christ wounded by those nearest him, a secondary application named beside the primary sense and not substituted for it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
And I will say unto him, What are these wounds between thine hands? And he shall say, wounds which I received in the house beloved by me.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Was it not the rod and reproof that gave thee this wisdom?" And he shall own, "Yes, it was; these are the wounds with which I was wounded in the house of my friends, who bound me, and used me hardly and severely, as a distracted man, and so brought me to my senses." By this it appears that those parents of the false prophet that thrust him through (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
What are these wounds in thine hands? - Marks which he had received in honor of his idols. But he shall excuse himself by stating that he had received these marks in his own family; when, most probably, they had been dedicated to some of those idols. See the note on Isa 44:5. I do not think that these words are spoken at all concerning Jesus Christ. I have heard them quoted in this way; but I cannot hear such an application of them without horror.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
wounds in thine hand--The interrogator still suspects him: "If so, if you have never pretended to be a prophet, whence come those wounds?" The Hebrew is literally, "between thine hands." The hands were naturally held up to ward off the blows, and so were "thrust through" (Zec 13:3) "between" the bones of the hand.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And one shall say unto him, What are those wounds in thy hands? - The words are simple; the meaning different , according as they are united with what immediately precedes, or the main subject, Him whom they pierced, for whom they were to mourn, and, on their mourning, to be cleansed, and of whom it is said in the next verse, “Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd.” Jerome and others explain it of the punishment inflicted by parents. “These wounds and bruises I received, condemned by the judgment of my parents, and of those who did not hate but loved me. And so will truth prevail dissipating falsehood, that he too, who was punished for his own fault, will own that he suffered rightly.” But wounds of chastisement are not inflicted on the hands, and the punishment of false prophecy was not such wounds, but death. Wounds in the hands were no punishment, which parents would inflict. They were the special punishment of the cross , after sustaining which, One only lived. The most literal interpretation, then, of the wounds in the hands harmonizes with the piercing before, and the smiting of the Good Shepherd which follows, of whom David too prophesied, “They pierced My Hands and My Feet” Psa 22:16. “What are those wounds on Thy hands? How long, think you, and how and by whom will this be said to Him? For ever and ever, unceasingly, and with unspeakable admiration it will be said, both by God the Father, “to whom He was obedient unto death, the death of the Cross” Php 2:8: it will be said also both by the holy “angels” who “desire to look into” Him 1Pe 1:12, and by people whom He has redeemed. O great miracle, wonderful spectacle, especially in the Lord of all, to bear wounds in the midst of His Hands! […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
And one will say to him, “What are these wounds between your hands?” Between your shoulders. There they flog the sinners.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
for a man entrusted me with his cattle Menahem (Machbereth p., second definition.) interpreted as an expression of “livestock of flocks and livestock of cattle” (Gen.:14). He entrusted me from my youth to watch his livestock.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 4 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
12 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאָמַ֣ר | veamar | and someone will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵלָ֔יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מָ֧ה | mah | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| הַמַּכּ֛וֹת | hamakot | [are] the wounds | H4347 → | |
| הָאֵ֖לֶּה | haeleh | <the> these | H428 → | 746 times |
| בֵּ֣ין | bein | between | H996 → | 407 times |
| יָדֶ֑יךָ | yadeikha | hands your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וְאָמַ֕ר | veamar | and he will say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | [those] which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| הֻכֵּ֖יתִי | hukeiti | I was wounded | H5221 → | 499 times |
| בֵּ֥ית | beit | [the] house of | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| מְאַהֲבָֽי׃ ס | meahavai | friends my | H157 → | 211 times |
וְאָמַ֣רand someone will say
veamarH559 →5305 times
אֵלָ֔יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
מָ֧הwhat?
mahH4100 →752 times
הַמַּכּ֛וֹת[are] the wounds
hamakotH4347 →
הָאֵ֖לֶּה<the> these
haelehH428 →746 times
בֵּ֣יןbetween
beinH996 →407 times
יָדֶ֑יךָhands your
yadeikhaH3027 →1618 times
וְאָמַ֕רand he will say
veamarH559 →5305 times
אֲשֶׁ֥ר[those] which
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
הֻכֵּ֖יתִיI was wounded
hukeitiH5221 →499 times
בֵּ֥ית[the] house of
beitH1004 →2046 times
מְאַהֲבָֽי׃ סfriends my
meahavaiH157 →211 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 22:16For dogs surround me; a band of evil men encircles me; they have pierced my hands and feet.
it leads to
- John 19:37
And, as another Scripture says: “They will look on the One they have pierced.”
- Zechariah 12:10
Then I will pour out on the house of David and on the people of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and prayer, and they will look on Me, the One they have pierced. They…
- Matthew 27:35
When they had crucified Him, they divided up His garments by casting lots.
- John 20:25
So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “Unless I see the nail marks in His hands, and put my finger where the nails have been, and put…
- John 19:23
When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they divided His garments into four parts, one for each soldier, with the tunic remaining. It was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.
- John 19:37
Through
Revelation 14:11And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. Day and night there is no rest for those who worship the beast and its image, or for anyone who receives the mark of…
it leads to
- Isaiah 34:10
It will not be quenched—day or night. Its smoke will ascend forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever again pass through it.
- Revelation 19:3
And a second time they called out: “Hallelujah! Her smoke rises forever and ever.”
- Matthew 25:46
And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
- Isaiah 34:10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Zechariah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Cosmas Indicopleustes, The Christian Topography, Book 5; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.