< Zechariah 11 >
1 Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy cedars.
Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire can burn up your cedars!
2 Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut down.
Weep, juniper, because the cedar has fallen, the majestic trees are ruined! Weep, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been cut down!
3 The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of the Jordan is spoiled.
Listen to the howls of the shepherds, for their pastureland is destroyed. Listen to the roars of the young lions, for their Jordan habitat is ruined.
4 Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,
This is what the Lord my God says: Become a shepherd of the flock marked for slaughter.
5 Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not, and they sold them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are become rich: and their shepherds spared them not.
Those who buy them kill them and don't feel guilty; those who sell them say, “Praise the Lord! Now I'm rich!” Even their shepherds don't care about them.
6 And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall destroy the land, and I will not deliver it out of their hand.
For I will no longer care about the people of the Land, declares the Lord. I am going to make them victims of each other, and of the king. They will devastate the earth and I won't help anyone get away from them.
7 And I will feed the hock of slaughter for this, O ye poor of the dock. And I took unto me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord, and I fed the flock.
So I became a shepherd of the flock marked for slaughter by the sheep merchants. Then I took two staffs, one named Grace, the other named Union, and I shepherded the flock.
8 And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was straitened in their regard: for their soul also varied in my regard.
In one month I dismissed three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also hated me.
9 And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die: and that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour every one the flesh of his neighbour.
Then I said, “I will not be your shepherd. If the sheep die, they die. Let those that are to perish, perish. Let those who are left eat each other!”
10 And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder to make void my covenant, which I had made with all people.
Then I took my staff called Grace and broke it, breaking the agreement I had made with all the peoples.
11 And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord.
It was broken on that day, and the sheep merchants who were watching me knew that it was a message from the Lord.
12 And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
I told them, “If you want to pay me my wages, then do so. If not, then don't.” So they paid me my wages—thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary.
And the Lord said to me, “Throw the money to the treasury,” this measly sum they thought I was worth! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the treasury of the Lord's Temple.
14 And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord, that I might break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.
Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family union between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
The Lord told me, Get the things you use as a shepherd, a useless shepherd.
16 For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and break their hoofs.
For I am placing a shepherd in charge of the land who won't care for those who are dying, or look for the lost, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy. Instead he will eat the meat from the fattest sheep. He even tears their hooves off.
17 O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
What disaster is coming to this useless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword will strike his arm and his right eye. His arm will wither away and his right eye will become completely blind.