Zechariah 11

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

Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars.

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.

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 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.

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

Thus said Jehovah my God: 'Feed the flock of the slaughter,

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.”

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 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.

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 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.

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

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 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.

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

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.

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 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.

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: 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.

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 And I cut short my second staff, which was called Rope, so that I might dissolve 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: Still they are to you 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 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.

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 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.

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!'