Zechariah 10:3
Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle. Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats: for the LORD of hosts hath visited his flock the house of Judah, and hath made them as his goodly horse in the battle.
Zechariah 10:3 belongs to a prophecy of restoration given to encourage the building of the temple and the restoring of Jerusalem in the time of Zerubbabel and Ezra. The section containing chapters 9 through 11 was copied from Jeremiah, which is one possible explanation for Matthew attributing wording resembling Zechariah 11:12 to Jeremiah. Chapters 9 through 14 are thought by some to have originally been writings of Jeremiah that were placed under Zechariah's name when manuscripts were gathered, or Jeremiah may have spoken a prophecy whose writing was later lost, either of which could explain Matthew's attribution.
The verse declares that the Lord judged the shepherds and leaders and punished the goats, while visiting Judah as his flock and making the people strong and splendid and ready for battle like a warhorse. That visitation denotes his decisive, particular intervention to favor and deliver his people, as in the recovery from captivity. In its context, true spiritual gifts are manifested among God's remnant while counterfeit manifestations arise through diviners and dreamers, and God strengthens his people for battle while punishing the false ones.
The verse stands in the closing section of Zechariah, which looks forward to the final restoration of God's people and foretells judgments on those who reject him. That restoration reformation movement is a type of the last reformation. The verse belongs to a prophecy of the remnant's release from captivity and gathering in which the papal dominion as spiritual Egypt is taken away in 1798, and the remnant leaves the Roman Empire, crosses the sea amid affliction, and journeys west to the wilderness of preparation identified with Gilead and Lebanon. Verses 3 through 5 point to the closing scenes of world history, when God judges the wicked and brings the great controversy between sin and righteousness to its end at the coming of Christ as the mighty conqueror.