Zechariah 11

1 Open your doors, Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.

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

2 Wail, cypress tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the stately ones are destroyed. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest has come down.

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

3 A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed—a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is 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 The LORD my God says: “Feed the flock of slaughter.

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

5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich;’ and their own shepherds don’t pity 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 more pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the LORD; “but, behold, I will deliver every one of the men into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They will strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.”

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

7 So I fed the flock to be slaughtered, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called “Favor” and the other I called “Union”, and I fed 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 I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed 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, “I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.”

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 I took my staff Favor and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made 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 It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the LORD’s word.

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 you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for 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 The LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter—the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the LORD’s house.

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 cut apart my other staff, 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 The LORD said to me, “Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

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

16 For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the meat of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs 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 Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will strike his arm and his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!”

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.