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, Lebanon, so that fire may devour 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, pine-tree, for the cedar is fallen. Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the inaccessible forest has fallen.
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! Their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions! Blasted is the thick forest of the Jordan.
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.
The Lord said to me: shepherd the flock destined 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 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 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].”
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 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 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 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.
I set aside three of the shepherds in one month; for I was indignant against them, and they also were displeased at 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.”
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 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.
And I took my staff, Mercy, and broke it, so as to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
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.
In that day it was broken, and the sheep-merchants who watched me knew that it was the Lord’s message.
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.
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 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, 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 I broke my second staff, [the one that I named] ‘Union’. That [indicated that] Judah and Israel would no longer be united.
Then I broke my second staff called Union so as to dissolve the brotherhood between Judah and Jerusalem.
15 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again the things that a foolish shepherd uses,
And the Lord said to me: Take again the implements of a worthless 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 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 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 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.
