Zaccharias Propheta 11

1 [Aperi, Libane, portas tuas, et comedat ignis cedros tuas.

Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars.

2 Ulula, abies, quia cecidit cedrus, quoniam magnifici vastati sunt: ululate, quercus Basan, quoniam succisus est saltus munitus.

Wail, pine-tree, for the cedar is fallen. Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the inaccessible forest has fallen.

3 Vox ululatus pastorum, quia vastata est magnificentia eorum: vox rugitus leonum, quoniam vastata est superbia Jordanis.]

Listen to the wailing of the shepherds! Their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions! Blasted is the thick forest of the Jordan.

4 Hæc dicit Dominus Deus meus: Pasce pecora occisionis,

The Lord said to me: shepherd the flock destined for slaughter,

5 quæ qui possederant occidebant, et non dolebant, et vendebant ea, dicentes: Benedictus Dominus! divites facti sumus: et pastores eorum non parcebant eis.

whose possessors slaughter them, and hold themselves not guilty! The people who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich! And their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

6 Et ego non parcam ultra super habitantes terram, dicit Dominus: ecce ego tradam homines, unumquemque in manu proximi sui, et in manu regis sui: et concident terram, et non eruam de manu eorum.

I will no longer have pity on the people of this earth, says the Lord. I will turn neighbour against neighbour, and put everyone under the power of a king, and when the land is devastated I will not rescue them.

7 Et pascam pecus occisionis propter hoc, o pauperes gregis! et assumpsi mihi duas virgas: unam vocavi Decorem, et alteram vocavi Funiculum: et pavi gregem.

So I shepherded the flock of slaughter for the sheep-merchants. I took two staffs: one I called Mercy and the other I called Union. So I shepherded the sheep.

8 Et succidi tres pastores in mense uno, et contracta est anima mea in eis, siquidem et anima eorum variavit in me.

I set aside three of the shepherds in one month; for I was indignant against them, and they also were displeased at me.

9 Et dixi: Non pascam vos: quod moritur, moriatur, et quod succiditur, succidatur: et reliqui devorent unusquisque carnem proximi sui.

I said, I will not shepherd you. What is dead, let it die. What is set aside, let it be set aside. And let those who are left devour one another’s flesh.

10 Et tuli virgam meam quæ vocabatur Decus, et abscidi eam, ut irritum facerem fœdus meum quod percussi cum omnibus populis.

And I took my staff, Mercy, and broke it, so as to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

11 Et in irritum deductum est in die illa: et cognoverunt sic pauperes gregis, qui custodiunt mihi, quia verbum Domini est.

In that day it was broken, and the sheep-merchants who watched me knew that it was the Lord’s message.

12 Et dixi ad eos: Si bonum est in oculis vestris, afferte mercedem meam: et si non, quiescite. Et appenderunt mercedem meam triginta argenteos.

And I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wage. If not, don’t.’ So they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver.

13 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Projice illud ad statuarium, decorum pretium quo appretiatus sum ab eis. Et tuli triginta argenteos, et projeci illos in domum Domini, ad statuarium.

And the Lord said to me, Cast it into the treasury – the precious wage that at which I was valued by them! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them into the house of the Lord, into the treasury.

14 Et præcidi virgam meam secundam, quæ appellabatur Funiculus, ut dissolverem germanitatem inter Judam et Israël.

Then I broke my second staff called Union so as to dissolve the brotherhood between Judah and Jerusalem.

15 Et dixit Dominus ad me: Adhuc sume tibi vasa pastoris stulti.

And the Lord said to me: Take again the implements of a worthless shepherd.

16 Quia ecce ego suscitabo pastorem in terra, qui derelicta non visitabit, dispersum non quæret, et contritum non sanabit, et id quod stat non enutriet, et carnes pinguium comedet, et ungulas eorum dissolvet.

For I am about to appoint a shepherd over the land. Those who are thrust down he will not visit. Those who are scattered he will not seek out. The wounded he will not heal, the sick he will not make whole, but the flesh of the fat he will devour and even their hoofs he will tear.

17 O pastor, et idolum derelinquens gregem: gladius super brachium ejus, et super oculum dextrum ejus: brachium ejus ariditate siccabitur, et oculus dexter ejus tenebrescens obscurabitur.

Woe to my worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye. May his arm completely wither. And his right eye be blinded.