The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Zechariah 11
1 Open your doors, Lebanon,
that the fire may devour your cedars.
2 Wail, cypress 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 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 Yahweh my God says: “Feed the flock of
slaughter.
5 Their buyers slaughter them and go
unpunished. Those who sell them say,
‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;’ and
their own shepherds don’t pity them.
6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants
of the land,” says Yahweh; “but, behold, I
will deliver every one of the men 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 So I fed the flock to be slaughtered,
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 I cut off the three shepherds in one
month; for my soul was weary of them,
and their soul also loathed me.
9 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 I took my staff Favor and cut it apart,
that I might break my covenant that I had
made with all the peoples.
11 It was broken in that day; and thus the
poor of the flock that listened to me knew
that it was Yahweh’s word.
12 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 Yahweh 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
Yahweh’s house.
14 Then I cut apart my other staff, Union,
that I might break the brotherhood
between Judah and Israel.
15 Yahweh said to me, “Take for yourself
yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
16 For, behold, 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 meat of the fat sheep, and will tear
their hoofs in pieces.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who
leaves the flock! The sword will strike
his arm and his right eye. His arm will be
completely withered, and his right eye will
be totally blinded!