Zechariah

Throw open your gates, O Lebanon,And let fire consume your cedars!

Howl, cypresses, for cedars have fallen!How the mighty are ravaged!Howl, you oaks of Bashan,For the stately forest is laid low!

Hark, the wailing of the shepherds,For their rich pasturesarich pastures Meaning of Heb. uncertain. are ravaged;Hark, the roaring of the great beasts,For the jungle of the Jordan is ravaged.

Thus said my God the ETERNAL One: Tend the sheep meant for slaughter,

whose buyers will slaughter them with impunity, whose seller will say, “Praised be GOD! I’ll get rich,” and whose shepherd will not pity them.

For I will pity the inhabitants of the land no more—declares GOD—but I will place everyone at the mercy of their neighbor and at the mercy of their king; they shall break the country to bits, and I will not rescue it from their hands.

So I tended the sheep meant for slaughter, for those poor ones of the sheep.bfor those poor ones of the sheep Emendation yields “for the sheep dealers”; cf. the word rendered “trader” in 14.21. I got two staffs, one of which I named Favor and the other Unity, and I proceeded to tend the sheep.

But I lost the three shepherdscthe three shepherds Emendation yields “a third of the flock.” in one month; then my patience with them was at an end, and they in turn were disgusted with me.

So I declared, “I am not going to tend you; let the one that is to die die and the one that is to get lost get lost; and let the rest devour each other’s flesh!”

Taking my staff Favor, I cleft it in two, so as to annul the covenant I had made with all the peoples;dannul the covenant I had made with all the peoples Perhaps alluding to the prediction of 14.1–3.

and when it was annulled that day, the same poor ones of the sheepethe same poor ones of the sheep Emendation yields “the sheep dealers.” who watchedfwatched Emendation yields “hired.” me realized that it was a message from GOD.

Then I said to them, “If you are satisfied, pay me my wages; if not, don’t.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty shekels of silver—

the noble sum that I was worth in their estimation.gthe noble sum that I was worth in their estimation Meaning of Heb. uncertain. GOD said to me, “Deposit it in the treasury.”htreasury Meaning of Heb. uncertain. And I took the thirty shekels and deposited it in the treasury in the House of GOD.

Then I cleft in two my second staff, Unity, in order to annul the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.iIsrael Two mss. of the Septuagint have “Jerusalem”; cf. 12.2–3; 14.14.

GOD said to me further: Get yourself the gear of a foolish shepherd.

For I am going to raise up in the land a shepherd who will neither miss the lost [sheep], nor seek the strayed,jseek the strayed Meaning of Heb. uncertain. nor heal the injured, nor sustain the frail,ksustain the frail Meaning of Heb. uncertain. but will feast on the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hoofs.ltear off their hoofs Meaning of Heb. uncertain.

Oh, the worthless shepherdWho abandons the flock!Let a sword descend upon his armAnd upon his right eye!His arm shall shrivel up;His right eye shall go blind.