Zechariah 13:3
And it shall come to pass, that when any shall yet prophesy, then his father and his mother that begat him shall say unto him, Thou shalt not live; for thou speakest lies in the name of the LORD: and his father and his mother that begat him shall thrust him through when he prophesieth.
Zechariah 13:3 stands in the later chapters of Zechariah, whose historical setting and authorship are considered uncertain. The section comprising chapters 9-14 has been suggested to have originally belonged to Jeremiah's writings and to have been placed among Zechariah's prophecies later when manuscripts were gathered. In Zechariah 13-14 many prophecies referring to widely separated times are placed together, so the verse must not be read as consecutive with what goes before and after. Its exact time and application must be fixed by testing scripture with scripture and dividing the Word of truth as was done at Nazareth when the quotation was stopped before the day of vengeance, leaving what was not yet due to another time. These chapters look forward to the final glorious restoration when Christ comes. That section predicts Christ's kingdom, the great day of the Lord, and the punishment of the wicked.
The prophecy was fulfilled in measure when Israel returned from Babylonian captivity and is to be fulfilled more fully, under different conditions, in the great final restoration. The verse belongs to the latest Old Testament prophecy concerning the Jews' return to the literal land of Canaan, which was given in 487 B.C., with the restoration complete by 445 B.C., forty-two years later. The verse belongs to the prophecy of the time of Christ's first advent, which also foretells His death and burial.
The verse shows the end-time exposure of false prophets, when deceptions are laid bare and the deceived turn against their former king and god, so that his human agents are hated as well. Even a prophet's own father and mother who gave him birth turn against him, declare he must die for speaking lies in the name of the Lord, and pierce him while he is prophesying. The prophets become ashamed of their visions because God causes them to fail, and to escape the people's hatred some deny ever having prophesied and claim a lifelong quiet occupation such as keeping cattle or farming.