Zechariah 11

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

Open your doors, Lebanon, that fire may devour 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,

Lament, cypress trees, for the cedar trees have fallen! What was majestic has been devastated! Lament, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has gone 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 shepherds howl, for their glory has been destroyed! The voice of the young lions' roar, for the pride of the Jordan River has been devastated!

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

This is what Yahweh my God says, “Like a shepherd, watch over the flock set aside for 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.

(The ones who buy them slaughter them and are not punished, and the ones who sell them say, 'Blessed be Yahweh! I have become rich!' for the shepherds working for the flocks' owners have no pity on 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 no longer pity the inhabitants of the land!—this is Yahweh's declaration. See! I myself am about to turn over every person into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king, and they will destroy the land and none of them will I deliver them from 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 became the shepherd of the flock marked for slaughter, for those who dealt in sheep. I took two staffs; one staff I called “Favor” and the other I called “Unity.” In this way I shepherded 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.

In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also hated 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 to the owners, “I will not work as a shepherd for you any longer. The sheep that are dying—let them die; the sheep that are being destroyed—let them be destroyed. Let the sheep that remain each eat the flesh of its neighbor.”

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

So I took my staff “Favor” and broke it to break the covenant that I had made with all of my tribes.

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.

On that day the covenant was broken, and those who dealt in sheep and who were watching me knew that Yahweh had spoken.

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.

I said to them, “If it seems good to you, pay me my wages. But if not, do not do it.” So they weighed out my wages—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.

Then Yahweh said to me, “Deposit the silver in the treasury, the excellent price at which they valued you!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and deposited them in the treasury in the house of Yahweh.

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

Then I broke my second staff, “Unity,” to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

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

Yahweh said to me, “Again, take the equipment of a foolish shepherd for yourself,

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 am about to set in place a shepherd in the land. He will not care for the perishing sheep. He will not seek out the sheep gone missing, nor heal the crippled sheep. He will not feed the sheep that are healthy, but will eat the flesh of the fattened sheep and will tear off their hooves.

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 who forsakes the flock! May the sword come against his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and may his right eye become blind!”