“If any prophets appear again,
Their fathers,
With their mothers who bore them,
Will say to them.
‘You shall not live.
You speak lies
In the name of Yahweh!’
Their fathers,
With their mothers who bore them,
Shall pierce them through
When they prophesy.
On that day,
The prophets,
Every one of them,
Will be ashamed
Of their visions
When they prophesy.
They will not put on
A hairy mantle
In order to deceive.
But each of them will say.
‘I am no prophet.
I am a tiller of the soil.
The land has been my possession
Since my youth.’
If anyone asks them.
‘What are these wounds
On your chest?’
The answer will be.
‘I received
These wounds
In the house of my friends.’”
Yahweh warned, via Zechariah, that future prophets would not fare well. Fathers and mothers who had children who wanted to become prophets were told to tell them that they are lying in the name of Yahweh. In fact, these young men were not to live, since their parents would kill them with a sword. All the prophets would be ashamed. They would not wear their normal prophetic hairy coats. Instead, they would pretend to be farmers. If anyone wanted to know why they had cuts on their chests like prophets, they would say that their friends had done it. Clearly, this was the end of institutional prophecy. The very few remaining prophets would be afraid to be pointed out, since they might be put to death.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 