< Zechariah 11 >
1 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
2 Howl, fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are laid waste: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
3 [There is] a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is laid waste.
4 Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;
5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed [be] the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver [them].
7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, [even] you, O poor of the flock. And I took to me two staffs; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat, every one the flesh of another.
10 And I took my staff, [even] Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it [was] the word of the LORD.
12 And I said to them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
13 And the LORD said to me, Cast it to the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
14 Then I cut asunder my other staff, [even] Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the LORD said to me, Take to thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
16 For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, [who] shall not visit those that are cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
17 Woe to the idle shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword [shall be] upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be wholly dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
