1Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars!2Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen; the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest has been cut down!3Listen to the wail of the shepherds: their rich pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions; the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
Two shepherds
4This is what the Lord my God says: ‘Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.5Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, “Praise the Lord, I am rich!” Their own shepherds do not spare them.6For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,’ declares the Lord. ‘I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbours and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.’7So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favour and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.8In one month I got rid of the three shepherds. The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them9and said, ‘I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.’10Then I took my staff called Favour and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.11It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the Lord.12I told them, ‘If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.’ So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.13And the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’ – the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the Lord.14Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.15Then the Lord said to me, ‘Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.16For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.17‘Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye 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)