“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
Parallel translations
- WEB “In that day there will be a spring opened to David’s house and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
- KJV In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.
- BSB “On that day a fountain will be opened to the house of David and the people of Jerusalem, to cleanse them from sin and impurity.
- NASB “On that day a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for defilement.
- NLT “On that day a fountain will be opened for the dynasty of David and for the people of Jerusalem, a fountain to cleanse them from all their sins and impurity.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
On that day a fountain will be opened for David's house and Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness. It matters because it promises full cleansing from sin—fulfilled in the blood of Christ.
Overview
Following the mourning of repentance, God opens a perpetual 'spring' to wash away sin and impurity. This pictures the gracious provision of cleansing that no human effort could supply. Christians rightly see its fulfillment in the cleansing blood of Jesus, the fountain opened at the cross, which purifies from all sin (1 John 1:7; Heb. 9:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 24
- John 1:29The next day, he saw Jesus coming to him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
- 1 Cor 6:11Such were some of you, but you were washed. But you were sanctified. But you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and in the Spirit of our God.
- Ps 51:2Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin.
- Ezek 36:25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
- Heb 9:13–14For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh:
- 1 Jn 1:7But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
- 1 Jn 5:6This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with the water and the blood. It is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.
- Rev 7:13–14One of the elders answered, saying to me, “These who are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?”
- Zech 12:7–8Yahweh also will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of David’s house and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem not be magnified above Judah.
- Rev 1:5–6and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
- Isa 1:16–18Wash yourselves, make yourself clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before my eyes. Cease to do evil.
- Ps 51:7Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
- Zech 12:3It will happen in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples. All who burden themselves with it will be severely wounded, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
- 1 Pet 1:19but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ;
- Ezek 36:29I will save you from all your uncleanness: and I will call for the grain, and will multiply it, and lay no famine on you.
- Eph 5:25–27Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;
- Titus 3:5–7not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
- Job 9:30–31If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye,
- Zech 12:10–11I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
- John 19:34–35However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.
- Ezek 36:17Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their way and by their doings: their way before me was as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity.
- Jer 17:13Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be disappointed. Those who depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
- Lev 15:2–33“Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘When any man has a discharge from his body, because of his discharge he is unclean.
- Num 19:9–22“A man who is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up outside of the camp in a clean place; and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water for impurity. It is a sin offering.
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Christ at the center
The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.
How Zechariah 13:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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