And one must say to him, ‘What are these wounds on your person between your hands?’ And he will have to say, ‘Those with which I was struck in the house of my intense lovers.’”​—Zechariah 13:4-6, NW; JB; NE; NAB; contrast Amos 7:14-17.

24. The scar-producing wounds on the deceptive prophet were admitted by him to be inflicted by whom, and what would this indicate as to loyalty to God in comparison with attachment to fleshly loved ones?

²⁴ Thus Jehovah foretold that his people, in their “land” of restoration, would be so well instructed with his Word and would be so loyal to Him and His true prophecies that they would refuse to be friends and intense lovers of any false prophet. If they did not kill him, then they would discipline him and strike him so hard in their indignation that visible wounds and scars would result. Such marks on his person, yes, on his breast which would be partly exposed, would betray his identity in spite of the fact that he had discarded official garments that he had assumed to wear as a bona fide prophet of Jehovah God. From whom had he got such scar-producing wounds? From his intense lovers, whether these were his own fleshly parents or his intimate associates. However, their intense loyalty to Jehovah as the God of true prophecy would be stronger than their till-then intense love for a deceptive prophet. They would place love of God and his inspired Word above personal friendships with fleshly relatives or associates. Such a course would cause “the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness” to pass out of the “land” of Jehovah’s repatriated people.

25. This course of supreme loyalty to Jehovah has been adopted by whom and since when, and how has this affected their spiritual “land”?

²⁵ This course of supreme loyalty to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has been the one adopted by the anointed remnant since 1919 C.E. This has resulted in the disfellowshiping or excommunicating of religious apostates or rebels from the theocratic organization that Jehovah the heavenly Theocrat has established among his obedient remnant.

So the loyal remnant are willing to brush aside intense love for close associates and to inflict spiritual “wounds” upon these in disapproval and rejection of apostates. This has kept their theocratic “land” a spiritual realm of clean godly living.