Zec 11 | HCSB | STEP | Open your gates , Lebanon , and fire will consume your cedars .

Zechariah 11

Israel’s Shepherds: Good and Bad

1 Open your gates, Lebanon,
and fire will consume your cedars. ^a
2 Wail, cypress, ^b for the cedar has fallen;
the glorious trees are destroyed!
Wail, oaks of Bashan, ^c
for the stately forest has fallen!
3 Listen to the wail ^d of the shepherds,
for their glory is destroyed.
Listen to the roar of young lions, ^e
for the thickets of the Jordan ^f are ^{▼▼Lit for the majesty of the Jordan is} destroyed.

4 ^{▼▼Yahweh/Yah: Or The Lord; the personal name of God in Hebrew; "Yah" is the shortened form of the name.}Yahweh my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished. ⁱ Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them. 6 Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land” – this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.” ^j

7 So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock. ^{▼▼LXX reads slaughter that belonged to the sheep merchants} I took two staffs, calling one Favor ^l and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. 8 In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is going astray go astray; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” 10 Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. 11 It was annulled on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock ^{▼▼LXX reads and the sheep merchants} who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, 30 pieces of silver. ⁿ

13 “Throw it to the potter,” ^{▼▼Syr reads treasury} the Lord said to me – this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter. ^{▼▼One Hb ms, Syr read treasury
,} ^q 14 Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 The Lord also said to me: “Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd. 16 I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost ^{▼▼Lit young} or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy, ^{▼▼Or exhausted} but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep ^t and tear off their hooves.

17 Woe to the worthless shepherd
who deserts the flock! ^u
May a sword strike ^{▼▼Lit be against} his arm
and his right eye!
May his arm wither away
and his right eye go completely blind!”