Zechariah 11:3-9

3Listen to the shepherds! They are crying because enemies have destroyed their fields. Listen to the noise of the lions! They are roaring because the trees beside the Jordan River are no longer there.

4This is what the Lord said to me, Zechariah. ‘My people are like sheep. There will be a time when men will buy them. And then they will kill them. But feed them until that time.

5Those men who buy the sheep will kill them. Nobody will punish them. They will sell them. And they will say, “Thank you Lord, because I am a rich man.” Their own shepherds do not give the sheep any help.’

6The Lord says, ‘The people in this country were my people, but they are not my people now. I will not go on being kind to them. I myself will give them to their enemies and to foreign kings. The foreign kings will do very bad things to the country, but I will not come to help.’

7So I was a good shepherd to the sheep that men would soon kill. I took special care of the weakest sheep. Then I took two sticks. And I called one stick ‘Grace’ and I called the other stick ‘Together’. I fed the sheep.

8In one month, I sent away three shepherds. They did not like me and I was not patient with them.

9I said to the sheep, ‘I will not be your shepherd and you will die. The sheep that do not die will eat each other.’