And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, {k} two parts in it shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left in it.

(k) The greatest part will have no portion of these blessings, and yet they that will enjoy them will be tried with great afflictions, so that is will be known that only God's power and his mercies preserve them.

Wesley's Notes

13:8 Two parts - Not precisely two, but the greater part shall die a temporal death, by the sword of Titus, or in eternal death under unbelief. The third - A remnant, the lesser part, shall escape or be preserved.

Scofield Reference Notes

[1] And it shall come to pass

Zech. 13 now returns to the subject of Zech 12:10. Zech 13:8,9 refer to the sufferings of the remnant Isa 1:9 Rom 11:5 preceding the great battle. Zech. 14. is a recapitulation of the whole matter. The order is:

(1) The gathering of the nation, Zech 13:2 (see "Armageddon," Rev 16:14 See Scofield Note: "Rev 19:11"

(2) the deliverance, Zech 13:3;

(3) the return of Christ to the Mount of Olives, and the physical change of the scene, Zech 13:4-8;

(4) the setting up of the kingdom, and full earthly blessing, Zech 13:9-21.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8, 9. Two-thirds of the Jewish nation were to perish in the Roman wars, and a third to survive. Probably from the context (Zec 14:2-9), which has never yet been fulfilled, the destruction of the two-thirds (literally, "the proportion of two," or "portion of two") and the saving of the remnant, the one-third, are still future, and to be fulfilled under Antichrist.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:7-9 Here is a prophecy of the sufferings of Christ. God the Father gave order to the sword of his justice to awake against his Son, when he freely made his soul an offering for sin. As God, he is called my Fellow. Christ and the Father are one. He is the Shepherd who was to lay down his life for the sheep. If a Sacrifice, he must be slain, for without shedding of the life-blood there was no remission. This sword must awake against him, yet he had no sin of his own to answer for. It may refer to the whole of Christ's sufferings, especially his agonies in the garden and on the cross, when he endured unspeakable anguish till Divine justice was fully satisfied. Smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. This passage our Lord Jesus declares was fulfilled, when all his disciples, in the night wherein he was betrayed, forsook him and fled. It has, and shall have its accomplishment, in the destruction of the corrupt and hypocritical part of the professed church. Because of the sin of the Jews in rejecting and crucifying Christ, and in opposing his gospel, the Romans would destroy the greater part. But a remnant would be saved. And if we are his people, we shall be refined as gold; he will be God, and the end of all our trials and sufferings will be praise, and honour, and glory, at the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.