58 MAARTEN J.J. MENKEN consistent with what we can observe throughout Justin’s writings 49. In the context of this paper, the important thing is that Justin’s interpretation of Zech 13,7 comes from the synoptic tradition and does not differ from that tradition, and that his text is of Jewish origin and does not depend on Justin’s Christian tradition. * * * Mark’s Jesus corroborates his announcement of the defection of the disciples by quoting from Zech 13,7 (Mark 14,27). The quo- tation depends on either a Hebrew text or a revised LXX. It is a Christian ad hoc creation, meant to introduce God acting in the death of Jesus into the biblical text. Matthew has borrowed quota- tion and context from Mark, and gives his own modest twist to the quotation by adding “of the flock”, to emphasize the status of the disciples as the nucleus of the group of those who follow Jesus (Matt 26,31). John takes up this Christian use of Zech 13,7, and has Jesus allude to it when he announces the defection of the disciples (16,32). John omits God striking Jesus, and makes the eschatologi- cal reference of Zechariah’s prophecy explicit. The author of Bar- nabas gives in 5,12 an unmarked and considerably rewritten quota- tion from Zech 13,7. His source was the quotation in Matt 26,31. In his rewriting, the sheep of the flock strike their own shepherd, and when they will do so, they will be punished for this act: they will perish. Finally, Justin gives in Dial. 53,5-6 an interpretation of Zech 13,7 that is essentially identical with that of Mark and Mat- thew, although we cannot precisely establish from what source he derived it. He also gives an extensive quotation, which looks like a revised LXX and offers a relatively good translation of the Hebrew. We may consider him to be the first scholar in the tradition of ren- dering and interpreting Zech 13,7: he not only interprets the text but also checks it against what is, to his mind, the original text. In this tradition process, there is a more or less straight line from the Hebrew text, possibly through a revised LXX, to the early See O. SKARSAUNE, The Proof from Prophecy. A Study in Justin Mar- 49 tyr’s Proof-Text Tradition: Text-Type, Provenance, Theological Profile (NTS 56 ; Leiden 1987) esp. 121.