Zechariah 11

1 Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire can burn up your cedars!

Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars.

2 Weep, juniper, because the cedar has fallen, the majestic trees are ruined! Weep, oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest has been cut down!

Wail, pine-tree, for the cedar is fallen. Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the inaccessible forest has fallen.

3 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.

Listen to the wailing of the shepherds! Their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions! Blasted is the thick forest of the Jordan.

4 This is what the Lord my God says: Become a shepherd of the flock marked for slaughter.

The Lord said to me: shepherd the flock destined for slaughter,

5 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.

whose possessors slaughter them, and hold themselves not guilty! The people who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich! And their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

6 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.

I will no longer have pity on the people of this earth, says the Lord. I will turn neighbour against neighbour, and put everyone under the power of a king, and when the land is devastated I will not rescue them.

7 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.

So I shepherded the flock of slaughter for the sheep-merchants. I took two staffs: one I called Mercy and the other I called Union. So I shepherded the sheep.

8 In one month I dismissed three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also hated me.

I set aside three of the shepherds in one month; for I was indignant against them, and they also were displeased at me.

9 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!”

I said, I will not shepherd you. What is dead, let it die. What is set aside, let it be set aside. And let those who are left devour one another’s flesh.

10 Then I took my staff called Grace and broke it, breaking the agreement I had made with all the peoples.

And I took my staff, Mercy, and broke it, so as to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

11 It was broken on that day, and the sheep merchants who were watching me knew that it was a message from the Lord.

In that day it was broken, and the sheep-merchants who watched me knew that it was the Lord’s message.

12 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.

And I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wage. If not, don’t.’ So they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver.

13 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.

And the Lord said to me, Cast it into the treasury – the precious wage that at which I was valued by them! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them into the house of the Lord, into the treasury.

14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family union between Judah and Israel.

Then I broke my second staff called Union so as to dissolve the brotherhood between Judah and Jerusalem.

15 The Lord told me, Get the things you use as a shepherd, a useless shepherd.

And the Lord said to me: Take again the implements of a worthless shepherd.

16 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.

For I am about to appoint a shepherd over the land. Those who are thrust down he will not visit. Those who are scattered he will not seek out. The wounded he will not heal, the sick he will not make whole, but the flesh of the fat he will devour and even their hoofs he will tear.

17 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.

Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye. May his arm completely wither. And his right eye be blinded.