Zechariah 11

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

Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy 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,

Wail, O cypress-tree, for the cedar is fallen; because the glorious ones are spoiled; wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is 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.

Hark! the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled; Hark! the roaring of young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are spoiled.

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

Thus said the LORD my God: 'Feed the flock of slaughter;

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 buyers slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say: Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich; and their own shepherds pity them not.

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 no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.'

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 fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Graciousness, and the other I called Binders; and I fed 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 I cut off the three shepherds in one month; 'for My soul became impatient of them, and their soul also loathed 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.”

Then said I: 'I will not feed you; that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another.'

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 staff Graciousness, and cut it asunder, 'that I might break My covenant which I had made with all the peoples.'

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 in that day; and the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew of a truth 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 unto them: 'If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear.' So they weighed for my hire thirty pieces 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 unto me: 'Cast it into the treasury, the goodly price that I was prized at of them.' And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them into the treasury, 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 cut asunder mine other staff, even Binders, that the brotherhood 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 unto me: 'Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

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, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not think of those that are cut off, neither will seek those that are young, nor heal that which is broken; neither will he feed that which standeth still, but he will eat the flesh of the fat, and will break their hoofs in pieces.'

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!”

Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye; his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.