1Lebanon, open your doors! Then fire can burn up your cedar trees.2Juniper trees, cry out! The cedar trees have fallen down. The majestic trees are destroyed. Cry out, you oak trees of Bashan! The thick forest has been cut down.3Listen to the shepherds cry out! Their rich grasslands are destroyed. Listen to the lions roar! The trees and bushes along the River Jordan are gone.
The two shepherds
4The LORD my God says, ‘Take care of the sheep that are set apart to be sacrificed.5Those who buy them kill them. And they are not punished for it. Those who sell them say, “Praise the LORD! We’re rich!” And their own shepherds do not spare them.6I will no longer have pity on the people in the land,’ announces the LORD. ‘I will hand all of them over to their neighbours and their king. They will destroy the land. And I will not save anyone from their power.’7So I took care of the sheep set apart to be sacrificed. I took special care of those that had been treated badly. Then I got two shepherd’s staffs. I called one of them Favour. I called the other one Union. And I took care of the flock.8In one month I got rid of three worthless shepherds. The sheep hated me, and I got tired of them.9So I said, ‘I won’t be your shepherd anymore. Let those of you who are dying die. Let those who are passing away pass away. Let those who are left eat one another up.’10Then I got my staff called Favour. I broke it. That meant the covenant the LORD had made with all the nations was broken.11It happened that day. The sheep that had been treated badly were watching me. They knew it was the LORD’s message.12I told them, ‘If you think it is best, give me my pay. But if you don’t think so, keep it.’ So they paid me 30 silver coins.13The LORD said to me, ‘Throw those coins to the potter.’ That amount shows how little they valued me! So I threw the 30 silver coins to the potter at the LORD’s temple.14Then I broke my second staff called Union. That broke the family connection between Judah and Israel.15The LORD said to me, ‘Now pretend to be a foolish shepherd. Get the things you need.16I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land. He will not take care of those that are wounded. He will not look for the young ones. He will not heal those that are hurt. He will not feed the healthy ones. Instead, he will eat the best sheep. He will even tear their hooves off.17‘How terrible it will be for that worthless shepherd! He deserts the flock. May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his powerful arm become weak! May his right eye be totally blinded!’
Zechariah 11
English Standard Version
The Flock Doomed to Slaughter
1Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars! (Isa 2:12)2Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the glorious trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been felled! (Zec 11:1)3The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined! The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined! (Jer 12:5; Jer 25:34; Eze 19:1)4Thus said the Lord my God: “Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. (Zec 11:7)5Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. (Eze 34:3; Ho 12:8)6For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.” (Jer 13:14)7So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named Favor, the other I named Union. And I tended the sheep. (Zec 11:4; Zec 11:10; Zec 11:14)8In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. (Jer 22:11; Jer 22:18; Jer 22:24; Zec 10:3; Zec 11:3; Zec 11:16)9So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.” (Jer 15:2)10And I took my staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. (Zec 11:7)11So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.12Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. (Ex 21:32; Mt 26:15)13Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. (Zec 11:12; Mt 27:9)14Then I broke my second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. (Zec 11:7)15Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. (2Ki 24:18)16For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs. (Eze 34:3; Eze 34:4; Joh 10:13)17“Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm be wholly withered, his right eye utterly blinded!” (2Ki 25:7; Jer 23:1; Joh 10:12)