Zechariah 11

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

[You people of] [APO] Lebanon [should] open your gates, [because you will not be able to stop] fire from burning your cedar [trees]!

2 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.

Your cypress/pine [trees] [APO] should [also] wail because the cedar [trees] have been cut down. Those glorious/great trees have been destroyed. The oak trees in the Bashan [region] should also wail, because the other trees in the forest have been cut down.

3 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.

And listen to the shepherds crying because the fertile pastures have been ruined. Listen to the lions roar; they roar because the delightful forest [where they live] near the Jordan [River] has been ruined.

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

This is what Yahweh my God said [to me]: “[I want you to] become a shepherd for a flock [of sheep that are about] to be slaughtered.

5 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.”

The people who are going to buy the sheep will kill the sheep, and they will not be punished. Those who are selling the sheep say, ‘[I] praise Yahweh, [because] I will become rich!’ Even the shepherds do not feel sorry for the sheep.

6 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.

And similarly, I no longer feel sorry for the people of this country. I am going to allow many of them [HYP] to be captured by other people or by their king. Those who capture them will ruin this country, and I will not rescue any [of the people].”

7 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.

So I became the shepherd of a flock [of sheep that were about] to be slaughtered [for their meat to be sold] to the dealers. [I took good care of the sheep, even the ones that were the weakest sheep. Then] I took two [shepherds’] /walking sticks). I named the one [staff] ‘Kindness’ and the other [staff] ‘Union’. And I took good care of the sheep.

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

But the three shepherds [who had been working with me] detested me, and I became impatient with them. Within one month I (dismissed/got rid of) those shepherds.

9 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.

So I said [to the dealers], “I will no [longer] be the shepherd. I will allow the ones that are dying to die. I will allow the ones that are getting lost to get lost. And I will not prevent those that remain from destroying each other.”

10 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.

Then I took the staff that I had named ‘Kindness’ and I broke it. [That showed that Yahweh] was annulling/canceling the agreement that he had made with all the people-groups.

11 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.

So that agreement was ended immediately. And the men who bought and sold sheep who were watching me knew [by seeing what I was doing] that I was giving them a message from Yahweh.

12 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.

I told them, “If you think it is what you should do, pay me [for taking care of the sheep]. If you do not think that is what you should do, do not pay me.” So they paid me [only] 30 pieces of silver.

13 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.

Then Yahweh said to me, “[That is a ridiculously small amount of money that they have paid you]! [So] throw it to the man who makes clay pots!” So I took the silver to the temple of Yahweh, and I threw it in the chest where the offerings/money is kept.

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

Then I broke my second staff, [the one that I named] ‘Union’. That [indicated that] Judah and Israel would no longer be united.

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

Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again the things that a foolish shepherd uses,

16 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.

because I am going to appoint a new king for the people, [one who will not take care of my people. He will be like a foolish shepherd]: [MET] He will not take care of those who are dying, those who are very young, those who have been injured, or those who do not have enough food. Instead, he will [treat them very cruelly, like a shepherd who would] [MET] kill and eat the best sheep and tear off their hoofs.

17 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.

But terrible things will happen to that foolish/useless king who abandons the people [MET] over whom he rules. [His enemies] will strike his arm and his right eye with their swords. [The result will be that] he will have no strength in his arm, and his right eye will become completely blind.”