Zechariah 11

The Doomed Flock

1Open your doors, O Lebanon, That a 1fire may feed on your 2cedars.2Wail, O 3cypress, for the cedar has fallen, Because the glorious trees have been destroyed; Wail, O oaks of Bashan, For the 4impenetrable forest has come down.3There is a sound of the shepherds’ 5wail, For their glory is ruined; There is a 6sound of the young lions’ roar, For the 7pride of the Jordan is ruined.

4Thus says the Lord my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to 8slaughter. 5Those who buy them slay them and 9go 10unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for 11I have become rich!’ And their 12own shepherds have no pity on them. 6For I will 13no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will 14cause the men to 15fall, each into another’s 16power and into the 17power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will 18not deliver them from their 19power.”

7So I 20pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, 21hence the 22afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two 23staffs: the one I called 2425Favor and the other I called 2627Union; so I pastured the flock. 8Then I annihilated the three shepherds in 28one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also 29was weary of me. 9Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to 30die, 31let it die, and what is to be annihilated, 32let it be annihilated; and 33let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” 10I took my staff 3435Favor and cut it in pieces, to 3637break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11So it was 38broken on that day, and 39thus the 40afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my 41wages; but if not, 42never mind!” So they weighed out 43thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the 44potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. 14Then I cut in pieces my second staff 4546Union, to 47break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15The Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a 4849foolish shepherd. 16For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will 50not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will 51devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.1752Woe to the worthless shepherd Who leaves the flock! A 53sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His 54arm will be totally withered And his right eye will be 55blind.”