Zechariah 11
The Lord commands the prophet to warn the people of impending judgment, using the metaphor of a shepherd and his flock. The prophet pastures the flock, but they detest him, and he grows weary of them, ultimately breaking his staffs, Favor and Union, symbolizing the breaking of the covenant with the nations and the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. The prophet is paid thirty pieces of silver for his services, which he throws into the house of the Lord, and is then told to take on the role of a foolish shepherd who will not care for the flock. The Lord pronounces woe on the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock.
1Open your doors, O Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars!2Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen; the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest has been cut down!3Listen to the wail of the shepherds; their rich pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions; the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!4This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock marked for slaughter.5Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the LORD, I am rich!' Their own shepherds do not spare them.6For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land," declares the LORD. "I will hand everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will oppress the land, and I will not rescue them from their hands."7So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.8In one month I got rid of the three shepherds. The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them9and said, "I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another's flesh."10Then I took my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.11It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the LORD.12I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.13And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter"-the handsome price at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD to the potter.14Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.15Then the LORD said to me, "Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.16For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hoofs.17"Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!"
Share this chapter