Zechariah 11

1 Open, O Lebanon, your doors, And fire devours among your cedars.

Let your doors be open, O Lebanon, so that fire may be burning among your cedars.

2 Howl, O fir, for the cedar has fallen, For their majestic ones were destroyed, Howl, you oaks of Bashan, For the enclosed forest has come down,

Give a cry of grief, O fir-tree, for the fall of the cedar, because the great ones have been made low: give cries of grief, O you oaks of Bashan, for the strong trees of the wood have come down.

3 A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For their robe of honor was destroyed, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For the excellence of Jordan was destroyed.

The sound of the crying of the keepers of the flock! for their glory is made waste: the sound of the loud crying of the young lions! for the pride of Jordan is made waste.

4 Thus said my God YHWH: “Feed the flock of the slaughter,

This is what the Lord my God has said: Take care of the flock of death;

5 Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed [is] YHWH, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

Whose owners put them to death and have no sense of sin; and those who get a price for them say, May the Lord be praised for I have much wealth: and the keepers of the flock have no pity for them.

6 For I no longer have pity on inhabitants of the land, A declaration of YHWH, And behold, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbor, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.”

For I will have no more pity for the people of the land, says the Lord; but I will give up everyone into his neighbour's hand and into the hand of his king: and they will make the land waste, and I will not keep them safe from their hands.

7 And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, you afflicted of the flock; and I take two staffs to myself; I have called one Pleasantness, and I have called the other Bands, and I feed the flock.

So I took care of the flock of death, for those who made profit out of the flock; and I took for myself two rods, naming one Beautiful, and the other Bands; and I took care of the flock.

8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul has abhorred me.

And in one month I put an end to the three keepers of the flock; for my soul was tired of them, and their souls were disgusted with me.

9 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 neighbor.”

And I said, I will not take care of you: If death comes to any, let death be its fate; if any is cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest take one another's flesh for food.

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

And I took my rod Beautiful, cutting it in two, so that the Lord's agreement, which he had made with all the peoples, might be broken.

11 and it is broken in that day, and the afflicted of the flock who are observing me know well, that it [is] a word of YHWH.

And it was broken on that day: and the sheep-traders, who were watching me, were certain that it was the word of the Lord.

12 And I say to them: “If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, refrain”; and they weigh out my hire—thirty pieces of silver.

And I said to them, If it seems good to you, give me my payment; and if not, do not give it. So they gave me my payment by weight, thirty shekels of silver.

13 And YHWH says to me, “Cast it to the potter”; the good price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them [into] the house of YHWH, to the potter.

And the Lord said to me, Put it into the store-house, the price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty shekels of silver and put them into the store-house in the house of the Lord.

14 And I cut apart my second staff, Bands, To break the unity between Judah and Israel.

Then I took my other rod, the one named Bands, cutting it in two, so that the relation of brothers between Judah and Israel might be broken.

15 And YHWH says to me, “Again take to yourself the instrument of a foolish shepherd.

And the Lord said to me, Take again the instruments of a foolish keeper of sheep.

16 For behold, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he does not inspect, The shaken off he does not seek, And the broken he does not heal, The standing he does not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he eats, And their hooves he breaks off.

For see, I will put a sheep-keeper over the land, who will have no care for that which is cut off, and will not go in search of the wanderers, or make well what is broken, and he will not give food to that which is ill, but he will take for his food the flesh of the fat, and let their feet be broken.

17 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!”

A curse on the foolish keeper who goes away from the flock! the sword will be on his arm and on his right eye: his arm will become quite dry and his eye will be made completely dark.