Zechariah 11

1 Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars.

Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars.

2 Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest,

Wail, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: wail, O all of you oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage has come down.

3 A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

4 Thus said Jehovah my God: 'Feed the flock of the slaughter,

Thus says the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

5 Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed [is] Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

6 For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.'

For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

7 And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock.

And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

8 And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me.

Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

9 And I say, 'I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.'

Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dies, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

10 And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples:

And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

11 and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it [is] a word of Jehovah.

And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

12 And I say unto them: 'If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;' and they weigh out my hire — thirty silverlings.

And I said unto them, If all of you think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

13 And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Cast it unto the potter;' the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them [to] the house of Jehovah, unto the potter.

And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was appraised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

14 And I cut asunder my second staff, Bands, to break the unity between Judah and Israel.

Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 And Jehovah saith unto me, 'Again take to thee the instrument of a foolish shepherd.

And the LORD said unto me, Take unto you yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

16 For lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he doth not inspect, The shaken off he doth not seek, And the broken he doth not heal, The standing he doth not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he doth eat, And their hoofs he doth break off.

For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that stands still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

17 Woe [to] the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword [is] on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!'

Woe to the idol shepherd that left the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.