Zechariah 11

The Shepherds Wail

1Open your doors, O Lebanon,
so that fire may consume your cedars! 2Wail, O cypress,
for the cedar has fallen;
the majestic trees are destroyed.
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
for the dense forest has fallen. 3Listen—the wailing of the shepherds,
for their majesty is destroyed!
Listen—the roaring of the young lions,
for the pride of the Jordan is destroyed!

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

4Thus says the LORD my God: “Shepherd the flock doomed to slaughter. 5Those who buy them slaughter them and are not held guilty. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!’ And their shepherds have no compassion on them. 6For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD. Look, I will give each person into the hand of a neighbor and into the hand of the king. They will crush the land, and I will not deliver anyone from their hand.”

Favor and Union

7So I shepherded the flock doomed to slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. I took two staffs for myself. I called one Favor, and the other I called Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8I removed three shepherds in one month. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. Let the one who is dying die, and the one who is perishing perish. Let those who remain consume one another’s flesh.”

10Then I took my staff Favor and broke it, annulling my covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11It was annulled on that day, and the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD. 12Then I said to them, “If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.”

And they weighed out my wages: thirty pieces of silver. 13Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter—the magnificent price at which I was valued by them!”

So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter. 14Then I broke my second staff, Union, annulling the family bond between Judah and Israel.

The Worthless Shepherd

15Then the LORD said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16For look, I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are being destroyed, will not seek the scattered, will not heal the injured, and will not sustain the healthy, but will eat the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hoofs.

17Woe to my worthless shepherd,
who abandons the flock!

May a sword strike his arm
and his right eye!
May his arm wither completely,
and his right eye become utterly blind!”