Zechariah 11
1 [You people of] [APO] Lebanon [should] open your gates, [because you will not be able to stop] fire from burning your cedar [trees]!
Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!
2 Your cypress/pine [trees] [APO] should [also] wail because the cedar [trees] have been cut down. Those glorious/great trees have been destroyed. The oak trees in the Bashan [region] should also wail, because the other trees in the forest have been cut down.
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen; the majestic trees are ruined! Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the dense forest has been cut down!
3 And listen to the shepherds crying because the fertile pastures have been ruined. Listen to the lions roar; they roar because the delightful forest [where they live] near the Jordan [River] has been ruined.
Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the roaring of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.
4 This is what Yahweh my God said [to me]: “[I want you to] become a shepherd for a flock [of sheep that are about] to be slaughtered.
This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,
5 The people who are going to buy the sheep will kill the sheep, and they will not be punished. Those who are selling the sheep say, ‘[I] praise Yahweh, [because] I will become rich!’ Even the shepherds do not feel sorry for the sheep.
whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
6 And similarly, I no longer feel sorry for the people of this country. I am going to allow many of them [HYP] to be captured by other people or by their king. Those who capture them will ruin this country, and I will not rescue any [of the people].”
For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.”
7 So I became the shepherd of a flock [of sheep that were about] to be slaughtered [for their meat to be sold] to the dealers. [I took good care of the sheep, even the ones that were the weakest sheep. Then] I took two [shepherds’] /walking sticks). I named the one [staff] ‘Kindness’ and the other [staff] ‘Union’. And I took good care of the sheep.
So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.
8 But the three shepherds [who had been working with me] detested me, and I became impatient with them. Within one month I (dismissed/got rid of) those shepherds.
And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.
9 So I said [to the dealers], “I will no [longer] be the shepherd. I will allow the ones that are dying to die. I will allow the ones that are getting lost to get lost. And I will not prevent those that remain from destroying each other.”
Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish; and let those who remain devour one another’s flesh.”
10 Then I took the staff that I had named ‘Kindness’ and I broke it. [That showed that Yahweh] was annulling/canceling the agreement that he had made with all the people-groups.
Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.
11 So that agreement was ended immediately. And the men who bought and sold sheep who were watching me knew [by seeing what I was doing] that I was giving them a message from Yahweh.
It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
12 I told them, “If you think it is what you should do, pay me [for taking care of the sheep]. If you do not think that is what you should do, do not pay me.” So they paid me [only] 30 pieces of silver.
Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
13 Then Yahweh said to me, “[That is a ridiculously small amount of money that they have paid you]! [So] throw it to the man who makes clay pots!” So I took the silver to the temple of Yahweh, and I threw it in the chest where the offerings/money is kept.
And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
14 Then I broke my second staff, [the one that I named] ‘Union’. That [indicated that] Judah and Israel would no longer be united.
Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again the things that a foolish shepherd uses,
And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
16 because I am going to appoint a new king for the people, [one who will not take care of my people. He will be like a foolish shepherd]: [MET] He will not take care of those who are dying, those who are very young, those who have been injured, or those who do not have enough food. Instead, he will [treat them very cruelly, like a shepherd who would] [MET] kill and eat the best sheep and tear off their hoofs.
For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.
17 But terrible things will happen to that foolish/useless king who abandons the people [MET] over whom he rules. [His enemies] will strike his arm and his right eye with their swords. [The result will be that] he will have no strength in his arm, and his right eye will become completely blind.”
Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”
