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,

Howl, O cypress, for the cedar falleth! For the lofty ones are destroyed! Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, For the high 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 voice of the howling of the shepherds, Because their glory is destroyed! The voice of the roaring of young lions, Because the pride of Jordan is destroyed!

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

Thus said Jehovah, my God: Feed thou 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 possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty, And which they who sell say, “Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich!” And whose shepherds spare 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 longer spare The inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; But, behold, I will deliver the men Every one into the hand of his neighbor, And into the hand of his king; And they shall smite the land, And I will not deliver out of their hand.

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, truly a miserable flock. And I took to me two crooks; the one I called Favor, and the other I called Bands; 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 three shepherds in one month; for I was weary of them, and they also abhorred 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 I said, 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 the rest eat the flesh of one 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 Favor, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the nations.

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 so the poor of the flock, who had regard to me, knew that it was the word of Jehovah.

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.

Then I said to them, If it seem good in your eyes, give me my wages; if not, keep them. And they weighed for my wages 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 Jehovah said to me, Cast it into the treasury, the goodly price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty shekels of silver, and cast them into the house of Jehovah, into the treasury.

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

Then I broke my other crook, even Bands, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

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

And Jehovah said to me: Take to 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 shall not care for those that are perishing, Nor seek that which is gone astray, Nor heal that which is wounded, Nor support that which cannot go; But he shall eat the flesh of the fat, And consume it even to the hoofs.

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 foolish shepherd that leaveth the flock! The sword is upon his arm, and upon his right eye; His arm shall surely be withered, And his right eye shall surely be darkened!