Zechariah 11

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

Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy 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, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest,

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.

A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

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

Thus said Jehovah 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.

Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed [is] Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on 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.”

For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of 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 feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed 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 off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred 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 say, 'I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.'

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 take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples:

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 is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it [is] a word of Jehovah.

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 say unto them: 'If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;' and they weigh out my hire — thirty silverlings.

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 Jehovah saith unto me, 'Cast it unto the potter;' the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them [to] the house of Jehovah, unto the potter.

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

And I cut asunder my second staff, Bands, to break the unity between Judah and Israel.

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

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Again take to thee the instrument 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 lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he doth not inspect, The shaken off he doth not seek, And the broken he doth not heal, The standing he doth not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he doth eat, And their hoofs he doth break off.

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!”

Woe [to] the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword [is] on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!'