In this chapter are prophecies concerning the purification of the penitent Jews before spoken of; the removal of idols, and false prophets, out of the earth; the death of Christ; the destruction of the greater part of men, and the salvation of a few of them.

In that day there shall be a fountain opened Which Aben Ezra and Kimchi understand literally; but R. Moses the priest figuratively; and so the Targum, which interprets it of the doctrine of the law being open as a fountain of water; and so Abendana, who compares it with but rather it should be…

And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts In the latter day, at the time of the conversion of the Jews, when they shall turn to the Lord, and their sins shall be forgiven, and washed away in the fountain of his blood; for this refers not to the times of the Babylonish…

And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy Or attempt to prophesy, or propagate their idolatrous religion and principles after this time, when they shall be abundantly detected and exposed: then his father and his mother that begat him; of whom he is born, and who, as his parents,…

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the prophets shall be ashamed, everyone of his vision, when he hath prophesied, &c.] He shall be ashamed of the doctrines he has delivered, they will appear to all men so ridiculous and absurd; as the doctrines of merit, and the works of supererogation;…

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…

And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? &c.] That is, if thou art not a prophet, what is the meaning of these wounds in thine hands? which design either those his father and mother had given him, when they thrust him through for being a false prophet, or the mark of the…

Awake, O sword, against my shepherd Not Judas Maccabeus, slain in battle by Bacchis [[21]], 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 it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the Lord Either in all the land of Israel, as Kimchi interprets it; or rather in all the world, as Aben Ezra and others; for this prophecy seems to have respect, not to the calamities of the Jews at the destruction of Jerusalem, after the death…

And I will bring the third part through the fire Into tribulation, as the Targum explains it; or into great distresses, comparable to fire, as Kimchi observes; this is the hour of temptation that will be in the Philadelphian church state, .