Zechariah 13:8 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

In all the land, two parts therein shall be cut off and die - “In all the land of Israel,” says a Jewish interpreter; (Kimchi); “ - the land, in which the Good Shepherd had been slain and the sheep scattered, “that upon you.” our Lord had said, “may come all the righteous blood.” As David punished Moab, “with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive” 2 Samuel 8:2; and Ezekiel prophesied, “A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee” Ezekiel 5:12; so now, the greater part should be destroyed, but a remnant should be saved. “But the third part shall be left therein. Even so then at this present time also,” Paul says, “there is a remnant according to the election of grace” Romans 11:5. Osorius: “The third part only shall be saved from the common destruction; yet not so, that they should suppose that glory was to be obtained amid ease.”