Zechariah 11

1 Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars.

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

2 Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest,

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

3 A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

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.

4 Thus said Jehovah my God: 'Feed the flock of the slaughter,

Thus says YHWH my God: "Feed the flock of slaughter.

5 Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed [is] Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Blessed be YHWH, for I am rich;' and their own shepherds do not pity them.

6 For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.'

For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land," says YHWH; "but, look, I will deliver the men everyone 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."

7 And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock.

So I fed the flock of slaughter, 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.

8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me.

I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.

9 And I say, 'I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.'

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."

10 And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples:

I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.

11 and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it [is] a word of Jehovah.

It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the word of YHWH.

12 And I say unto them: 'If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;' and they weigh out my hire — thirty silverlings.

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.

13 And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Cast it unto the potter;' the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them [to] the house of Jehovah, unto the potter.

YHWH 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 house of YHWH.

14 And I cut asunder my second staff, Bands, to break the unity between Judah and Israel.

Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Again take to thee the instrument of a foolish shepherd.

YHWH said to me, "Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

16 For lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he doth not inspect, The shaken off he doth not seek, And the broken he doth not heal, The standing he doth not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he doth eat, And their hoofs he doth break off.

For, look, 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 flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.

17 Woe [to] the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword [is] on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!'

Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock. The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded."