And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Parallel translations
- WEB I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say, ‘It is my people;’ and they will say, ‘Yahweh is my God.’”
- BSB This third I will bring through the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are My people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’”
- NKJV I will bring the one–third through the fire, Will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; And each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”
- NASB “And I will bring the third part through the fire, Refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, And I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are My people,’ And they will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”
- NLT I will bring that group through the fire and make them pure. I will refine them like silver and purify them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘These are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”
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
God will refine the surviving third like silver and gold, and they will call on Him and confess Him as their God, with Him owning them as His people. It matters because it shows suffering used to purify and confirm a covenant people.
Overview
The remnant passes through fire not to be destroyed but refined, emerging in true fellowship: they call on God's name and He answers, sealing the covenant—'It is my people' and 'Yahweh is my God.' Refining imagery shows that God's testing purifies faith rather than discarding it (1 Pet. 1:7). This restored covenant relationship is the goal of all the judgment and cleansing, fulfilled for believers united to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 38
- Ps 50:15And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
- Jer 29:11–12For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
- Acts 2:21And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.
- Isa 65:23–24They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them.
- Isa 48:10Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
- Ps 34:15–19The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.
- 1 Pet 1:6–7Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
- Ps 91:15He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.
- Rev 21:7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
- 1 Pet 4:12Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
- Jer 30:22And ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
- Isa 43:2When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
- Jas 1:12Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
- Deut 26:17–19Thou hast avouched the LORD this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and to hearken unto his voice:
- Ps 66:10–12For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
- Hos 2:21–23And it shall come to pass in that day, I will hear, saith the LORD, I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth;
- Zech 10:6And I will strengthen the house of Judah, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will bring them again to place them; for I have mercy upon them: and they shall be as though I had not cast them off: for I am the LORD their God, and will hear them.
- Mal 3:2–3But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:
- Heb 8:10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
- Job 23:10But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
- Zech 8:8And I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.
- Jer 31:33But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Lev 26:12And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people.
- Isa 58:9Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
- Rom 10:12–14For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him.
- Matt 22:29–32Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God.
- Rev 21:3–4And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
- Prov 17:3The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts.
- Zech 12:10And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.
- Ps 144:15Happy is that people, that is in such a case: yea, happy is that people, whose God is the LORD.
- Joel 2:32And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD hath said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.
- Ezek 37:27My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
- Ezek 36:28And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.
- 1 Cor 3:11–13For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
- Ezek 11:20That they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.
- Isa 44:1–6Yet now hear, O Jacob my servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen:
- Lev 26:44–45And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God.
- Jer 32:38And they shall be my people, and I will be their God:
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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 13:9 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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