Zechariah 11

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

Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy 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!

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 howls of the shepherds, for their pastureland is destroyed. Listen to the roars of the young lions, for their Jordan habitat is ruined.

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: Become a shepherd of the flock marked for slaughter.

Thus said Jehovah my God: 'Feed the flock of the 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 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 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.

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 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.

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

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

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 broken on that day, and the sheep merchants who were watching me knew that it was a message from 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 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 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 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 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 broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family union between Judah and Israel.

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

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

And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Again take to thee the instrument of a foolish 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 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 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] 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!'