Zechariah 11

1 Open your doors, Lebanon, that fire may devour your cedars!

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

2 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.

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

3 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!

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 says, “Like a shepherd, watch over the flock set aside for slaughter!

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

5 (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.)

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 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.”

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 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.

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 In one month I destroyed the three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also hated 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 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.”

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

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

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

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

12 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.

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, “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.

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

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

16 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.

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 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!”

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.