ZechariahChapter 11

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¹Open your doors, Lebanon,
so that fire can burn up your cedar trees! ²Cry out, you cypress trees, for the cedar has fallen!
The great trees are ruined!
Cry out, you oak trees of Bashan!
The thick forest has been cut down! ³Listen to the shepherds crying!
Their glory is ruined.
Listen to the young lions roaring!
The thick bushes by the Jordan River are destroyed. ⁴This is what the LORD my God says: "Take care of the flock that is set apart to be killed. ⁵The people who buy them kill them and feel no guilt. The people who sell them say, 'Praise the LORD, I am rich!' Even their own shepherds do not feel sorry for them. ⁶For I will no longer feel sorry for the people of the land," says the LORD. "Look, I will hand each person over to his neighbor and to his king. They will crush the land, and I will not save it from them." ⁷So I took care of the flock that was set apart to be killed. I cared most of all for the hurting ones in the flock. I took two shepherd's staffs. I named one Favor and the other Union. Then I took care of the flock. ⁸In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I grew tired of the flock, and they hated me too. ⁹Then I said, "I will not be your shepherd anymore. Let those who are dying die. Let those who are perishing perish. Let those who are left eat each other's flesh." ¹⁰Next I took my staff called Favor and broke it in two. This broke the covenant I had made with all the nations. ¹¹It was broken on that day. The hurting ones in the flock were watching me. So they knew it was a message from the LORD. ¹²Then I said to them, "If you think it is right, pay me what I earned. But if not, keep it." So they weighed out my pay. It was thirty pieces of silver. ¹³Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter." That was the great price they thought I was worth! So I took the thirty pieces of silver. I threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.a ¹⁴Then I broke my second staff, called Union, in two. This broke the family bond between Judah and Israel. ¹⁵Then the LORD said to me, "Once more, take the tools of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶For look, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land. He will not care for the lost. He will not look for the young. He will not heal the hurt. He will not feed the healthy. Instead, he will eat the meat of the best sheep. He will even tear off their hooves. ¹⁷How terrible it will be for the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock!
May a sword strike his arm and his right eye!
May his arm wither away completely!
May his right eye go totally blind!"