Zechariah 11

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!

Open your gates, Lebanon, and let fire consume your cedars.

2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!

Howl, you fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the magnificent have been devastated. Howl, you oaks of Bashan, because the secure forest passage has been cut down.

3 Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the roaring of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

The voice of the howling of the shepherds: for their magnificence has been devastated. The voice of the roaring of the lions: because the arrogance of the Jordan has been devastated.

4 This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,

Thus says the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,

5 whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.

which those who possessed them cut down, and they did not feel sorrow, and they sold them, saying: “Blessed be the Lord; we have become wealthy. Even their shepherds did not spare them.”

6 For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.”

And so, I will no longer spare the inhabitants upon the earth, says the Lord. Behold, I will deliver men, each one into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king. And they will cut down the land, and I will not rescue it from their hand.

7 So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.

And I will pasture the flock of the slaughter, because of this, O poor of the flock. And I took to myself two staffs: the one I called Handsome, and the other I called Rope, and I pastured the flock.

8 And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.

And I cut down three shepherds in one month. And my soul became contracted concerning them, just as their soul also varied concerning me.

9 Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish; and let those who remain devour one another’s flesh.”

And I said: I will not pasture you. Whatever dies, let it die. And whatever is cut down, let it be cut down. And let the rest of them devour, each one the flesh of his neighbor.

10 Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.

And I took my staff, which was called Handsome, and I tore it apart, so as to invalidate my pact, which I had struck with all of the people.

11 It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

And it became invalid in that day. And so they understood, just like the poor of the flock who stay close to me, that this is the word of the Lord.

12 Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

And I said to them: If it is good in your eyes, bring me my wages. And if not, remain still. And they weighed for my wages thirty silver coins.

13 And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

And the Lord said to me: Cast it towards the statuary, the handsome price at which I have been valued by them. And I took the thirty silver coins, and I cast them into the house of the Lord, towards the statuary.

14 Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

And I cut short my second staff, which was called Rope, so that I might dissolve the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

And the Lord said to me: Still they are to you the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

16 For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.

For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish what remains standing, and he will consume the flesh of the fatted ones and break their hoofs.

17 Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”

O shepherd and idol, abandoning the flock, with a sword upon his arm and over his right eye: his arm will be withered by drought, and his right eye will be obscured by darkness.