The Doomed Flock
11 Open your doors, Lebanon,
So that a (A)fire may feed on your (B)cedars.
2 Wail, juniper, because the cedar has fallen,
For the magnificent trees have been destroyed;
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
Because the [a]impenetrable forest has come down.
3 There is a sound of the shepherds’ (C)wail,
For their splendor is ruined;
There is a (D)sound of the young lions’ roar,
For the [b]pride of the Jordan is ruined.
4 This is what the Lord my God says: “Pasture the flock doomed to (E)slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and [c]go (F)unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for (G)I have become rich!’ And their (H)own shepherds have no compassion for them. 6 For I will (I)no longer have compassion for the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will (J)let the people fall, each into another’s [d]power and into the [e]power of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will (K)not rescue them from their [f]power.”
7 So I (L)pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, [g]therefore also the (M)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two (N)staffs: the one I called [h](O)Favor, and the other I called (P)Union; so I pastured the flock. 8 Then I did away with the three shepherds in (Q)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also [i]was tired of me. 9 Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to (R)die, [j]let it die, and what is to perish, [k]let it perish; and [l]let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff [m](S)Favor and cut it in pieces, to [n](T)break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was [o]broken on that day, and [p]so the (U)afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12 And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my (V)wages; but if not, [q]never mind!” So they weighed out (W)thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the (X)potter, 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. 14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff (Y)Union, to (Z)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a (AA)foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will (AB)not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or provide for the one who is exhausted, but will (AC)devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.
17 (AD)Woe to the worthless shepherd
Who abandons the flock!
A (AE)sword will be on his arm
And on his right eye!
His (AF)arm will be totally withered,
And his right eye will be [r]blind.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 11:2 Another reading is forest of the vintage
- Zechariah 11:3 Or thicket
- Zechariah 11:5 Lit are not held guilty
- Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
- Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
- Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
- Zechariah 11:7 Another reading is for the sheep dealers
- Zechariah 11:7 Or Pleasantness
- Zechariah 11:8 Or detested
- Zechariah 11:9 Or will die
- Zechariah 11:9 Or will perish
- Zechariah 11:9 Or those...will eat
- Zechariah 11:10 Or Pleasantness
- Zechariah 11:10 Or annul
- Zechariah 11:11 Or annulled
- Zechariah 11:11 Another reading is the sheep dealers who
- Zechariah 11:12 Lit cease
- Zechariah 11:17 Lit completely dimmed
Cross references
- Zechariah 11:1 : Jer 22:6, 7
- Zechariah 11:1 : Ezek 31:3
- Zechariah 11:3 : Jer 25:34-36
- Zechariah 11:3 : Jer 2:15; 50:44
- Zechariah 11:4 : Ps 44:22; Zech 11:7
- Zechariah 11:5 : Jer 50:7
- Zechariah 11:5 : Hos 12:8; 1 Tim 6:9
- Zechariah 11:5 : Ezek 34:2, 3
- Zechariah 11:6 : Jer 13:14
- Zechariah 11:6 : Is 9:19-21; Mic 7:2-6; Zech 14:13
- Zechariah 11:6 : Ps 50:22; Mic 5:8
- Zechariah 11:7 : Zech 11:4
- Zechariah 11:7 : Jer 39:10; Zeph 3:12
- Zechariah 11:7 : Ezek 37:16
- Zechariah 11:7 : Ps 27:4; 90:17; Zech 11:10
- Zechariah 11:7 : Ps 133:1; Ezek 37:16-23; Zech 11:14
- Zechariah 11:8 : Hos 5:7
- Zechariah 11:9 : Jer 15:2
- Zechariah 11:10 : Zech 11:7
- Zechariah 11:10 : Ps 89:39; Jer 14:21
- Zechariah 11:11 : Zeph 3:12
- Zechariah 11:12 : 1 Kin 5:6; Mal 3:5
- Zechariah 11:12 : Gen 37:28; Ex 21:32; Matt 26:15; 27:9, 10
- Zechariah 11:13 : Matt 27:3-10; Acts 1:18, 19
- Zechariah 11:14 : Zech 11:7
- Zechariah 11:14 : Is 9:21; Zech 11:6
- Zechariah 11:15 : Is 6:10-12; Zech 11:17
- Zechariah 11:16 : Jer 23:2
- Zechariah 11:16 : Ezek 34:2-6
- Zechariah 11:17 : Jer 23:1; Zech 10:2; 11:15
- Zechariah 11:17 : Jer 50:35-37
- Zechariah 11:17 : Ezek 30:21, 22