Zechariah 13:7

13:7 “Awake, sword, against my shepherd,

against the man who is my associate,”

says the Lord who rules over all.

Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; ¹ 

I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones.

Matthew 26:31

The Prediction of Peter’s Denial

26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “This night you will all fall away because of me, for it is written:

‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’ ² 

Matthew 26:56

26:56 But this has happened so that ³  the scriptures of the prophets would be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Mark 14:27

The Prediction of Peter’s Denial

14:27 Then ⁴  Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written,

‘I will strike the shepherd,

and the sheep will be scattered.’ ⁵ 

Mark 14:50

14:50 Then ⁶  all the disciples ⁷  left him and fled.

Acts 8:1-2

8:1 And Saul agreed completely with killing ⁸  him.

Saul Begins to Persecute the Church

Now on that day a great ⁹  persecution began ¹⁰  against the church in Jerusalem, ¹¹  and all ¹²  except the apostles were forced to scatter throughout the regions ¹³  of Judea and Samaria. 8:2 Some ¹⁴  devout men buried Stephen and made loud lamentation ¹⁵  over him. ¹⁶ 

Acts 4:16-17

4:16 saying, “What should we do with these men? For it is plain ¹⁷  to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable miraculous sign ¹⁸  has come about through them, ¹⁹  and we cannot deny it. 4:17 But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more ²⁰  to anyone in this name.”

¹ sn Despite the NT use of this text to speak of the scattering of the disciples following Jesus’ crucifixion (Matt 26:31; Mark 14:27), the immediate context of Zechariah suggests that unfaithful shepherds (kings) will be punished by the Lord precisely so their flocks (disobedient Israel) can be scattered (cf. Zech 11:6, 8, 9, 16). It is likely that Jesus drew on this passage merely to make the point that whenever shepherds are incapacitated, sheep will scatter. Thus he was not identifying himself with the shepherd in this text (the shepherd in the Zechariah text is a character who is portrayed negatively).

² sn A quotation from Zech 13:7.

³ tn Grk “But so that”; the verb “has happened” is implied.

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁵ sn A quotation from Zech 13:7.

⁶ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

⁷ tn Grk “they”; the referent (Jesus’ disciples) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn The term ἀναίρεσις (anairesi") can refer to murder (BDAG 64 s.v.; 2 Macc 5:13; Josephus, Ant. 5.2.12 [5.165]).

⁹ tn Or “severe.”

¹⁰ tn Grk “Now there happened on that day a great persecution.” It is less awkward to say in English “Now on that day a great persecution began.”

¹¹ map For location see Map5-B1; Map6-F3; Map7-E2; Map8-F2; Map10-B3; JP1-F4; JP2-F4; JP3-F4; JP4-F4.

¹² sn All. Given that the Jerusalem church is still active after this and that the Hellenists are the focus of Acts 6-8, it is possible to argue that only the Hellenistic Christians were forced to scatter.

¹³ tn Or “countryside.”

¹⁴ tn “Some” is not in the Greek text, but is implied.

¹⁵ sn Made loud lamentation. For someone who was stoned to death, lamentation was normally not allowed (m. Sanhedrin 6:6). The remark points to an unjust death.

¹⁶ tn Or “mourned greatly for him.”

¹⁷ tn Or “evident.”

¹⁸ tn Here σημεῖον (shmeion) has been translated as “miraculous sign” rather than simply “sign” or “miracle” since both components appear to be present in the context. It is clear that the healing of the lame man was a miracle, but for the Sanhedrin it was the value of the miraculous healing as a sign that concerned them because it gave attestation to the message of Peter and John. The sign “speaks” as Peter claimed in 3:11-16.

¹⁹ tn Or “has been done by them.”

²⁰ tn Or “speak no longer.”