Zechariah 11
New American Standard Bible 1995
The Doomed Flock
11 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
That a (A)fire may feed on your (B)cedars.
2 Wail, O [a]cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
Because the glorious trees have been destroyed;
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
For the [b]impenetrable forest has come down.
3 There is a sound of the shepherds’ (C)wail,
For their glory is ruined;
There is a (D)sound of the young lions’ roar,
For the [c]pride of the Jordan is ruined.
4 Thus says the Lord my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to (E)slaughter. 5 Those who buy them slay them and [d]go (F)unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for (G)I have become rich!’ And their (H)own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For I will (I)no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will (J)cause the men to [e]fall, each into another’s [f]power and into the [g]power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will (K)not deliver them from their [h]power.”
7 So I (L)pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, [i]hence the (M)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two (N)staffs: the one I called [j](O)Favor and the other I called [k](P)Union; so I pastured the flock. 8 Then I annihilated the three shepherds in (Q)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also [l]was weary of me. 9 Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to (R)die, [m]let it die, and what is to be annihilated, [n]let it be annihilated; and [o]let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” 10 I took my staff [p](S)Favor and cut it in pieces, to [q](T)break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was [r]broken on that day, and [s]thus the (U)afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12 I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my (V)wages; but if not, [t]never mind!” So they weighed out (W)thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the (X)potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. 14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff [u](Y)Union, to (Z)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 The Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a [v](AA)foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will (AB)not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will (AC)devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.
17 “(AD)Woe to the worthless shepherd
Who leaves the flock!
A (AE)sword will be on his arm
And on his right eye!
His (AF)arm will be totally withered
And his right eye will be [w]blind.”
Footnotes
- Zechariah 11:2 Or juniper
- Zechariah 11:2 Another reading is forest of the vintage
- Zechariah 11:3 Or jungle
- Zechariah 11:5 Lit are not held guilty
- Zechariah 11:6 Lit find
- Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
- Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
- Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
- Zechariah 11:7 Another reading is for the sheep dealers
- Zechariah 11:7 Or Pleasantness
- Zechariah 11:7 Or Cords
- Zechariah 11:8 Or detested
- Zechariah 11:9 Or will die
- Zechariah 11:9 Or will be annihilated
- Zechariah 11:9 Or those...will eat
- Zechariah 11:10 Or Pleasantness
- Zechariah 11:10 Or annul
- Zechariah 11:11 Or annulled
- Zechariah 11:11 Another reading is the sheep dealers who
- Zechariah 11:12 Lit cease
- Zechariah 11:14 Or Cords
- Zechariah 11:15 Or useless
- Zechariah 11:17 Lit completely dimmed
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
