Zechariah 11

1 Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, —that a fire, may devour, thy cedar,

Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars.

2 Howl, fir-tree, for fallen is the cedar, because, the majestic ones, are spoiled: howl, ye oaks of Bashan, for the inaccessible forest, hath come down.

Wail, pine-tree, for the cedar is fallen. Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the inaccessible forest has fallen.

3 The noise of the howling of the shepherds, for spoiled is their majesty, —The noise of the roaring of the young lions, for spoiled are the proud banks of the Jordan.

Listen to the wailing of the shepherds! Their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions! Blasted is the thick forest of the Jordan.

4 Thus, saith Yahweh my God, —Tend thou the flock doomed to slaughter:

The Lord said to me: shepherd the flock destined for slaughter,

5 Whose, buyers, slay them, and are not held guilty, and whose, sellers, say—Blessed be Yahweh, that I am become rich, And so, their own shepherds, have no pity upon them.

whose possessors slaughter them, and hold themselves not guilty! The people who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich! And their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

6 Surely I will have pity no longer upon the inhabitants of the earth, Declareth Yahweh, —Therefore lo! I am delivering up mankind, every man into the hand of his neighbour, and into the hand of his king, and they will crush the earth, nor will I deliver out of their hand.

I will no longer have pity on the people of this earth, says the Lord. I will turn neighbour against neighbour, and put everyone under the power of a king, and when the land is devastated I will not rescue them.

7 So I tended the flock doomed to slaughter, for the sheep-merchants, —and took unto me two staves, the one, I called Grace, and, the other, I called Union, thus I tended the sheep,

So I shepherded the flock of slaughter for the sheep-merchants. I took two staffs: one I called Mercy and the other I called Union. So I shepherded the sheep.

8 And I sent off three shepherds, in one month, —for impatient was my soul with them, moreover also, their soul, felt a loathing against me.

I set aside three of the shepherds in one month; for I was indignant against them, and they also were displeased at me.

9 Then said I—I will not tend you, —the dying, may die, and, the disappearing, may disappear, and, the remainder, may devour one another.

I said, I will not shepherd you. What is dead, let it die. What is set aside, let it be set aside. And let those who are left devour one another’s flesh.

10 So I took my staff Grace, and cut it in two, —that I might set aside my covenant which I had solemnised with all the peoples.

And I took my staff, Mercy, and broke it, so as to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

11 When it was broken, on that day, then did the sheep- merchants who were watching me, know, that, the word of Yahweh, it was.

In that day it was broken, and the sheep-merchants who watched me knew that it was the Lord’s message.

12 Then said I unto them, If it be good in your eyes, give me my wage, and, if not, forbear. So they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver.

And I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wage. If not, don’t.’ So they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver.

13 Then said Yahweh unto me, Cast it into the treasury, the magnificent price at which I had been valued by them! So I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them, in the house of Yahweh, into the treasury.

And the Lord said to me, Cast it into the treasury – the precious wage that at which I was valued by them! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them into the house of the Lord, into the treasury.

14 Then cut I in two my second staff, even Union, —that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

Then I broke my second staff called Union so as to dissolve the brotherhood between Judah and Jerusalem.

15 Then said Yahweh unto me, —Yet further take thee the implements of a worthless shepherd.

And the Lord said to me: Take again the implements of a worthless shepherd.

16 For lo! I am raising up a shepherd in the land, the disappearing, will he not visit, the straying, will he not seek, and, the fractured, will he not bind up, —the weak, will he not nourish, but, the flesh of the fat, will he eat, and, their hoofs, will he break in pieces.

For I am about to appoint a shepherd over the land. Those who are thrust down he will not visit. Those who are scattered he will not seek out. The wounded he will not heal, the sick he will not make whole, but the flesh of the fat he will devour and even their hoofs he will tear.

17 Alas! for my worthless shepherd, who forsaketh the flock, A sword upon his arm, and upon his right eye!—his arm, shall be, utterly withered, and, his right eye, shall be, wholly darkened.

Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye. May his arm completely wither. And his right eye be blinded.