Zechariah 11

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

2. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar has fallen; because the majestic trees are devastated. Howl, O oaks of Bashan; for the thick forest has come down.

3. There is the sound of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is destroyed. There is the sound of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is destroyed,

4. For thus says the LORD my God, “Feed the flock of the slaughter,

5. Those buying them slaughter them, and hold themselves not guilty. And those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich;’ and their shepherds do not pity them,

6. For I will no more pity the people of the land,” says the LORD; “but lo, I will deliver the men, each one into his neighbor’s hand and into his king’s hand. And they shall strike the land, and I will not deliver them out of their hand.”

7. And I fed the flock of slaughter, even the most miserable of the flock. And I took two staffs for myself; the one I called Grace, and the other I called Union. And I fed the flock.

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

9. And I said, “I will not feed you; that which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off. And those left, let them eat, every one the flesh of another.”

10. And I took my staff Grace, and broke it apart, to annul my covenant which I had made with all the people.

11. And it was annulled in that day; and so the poor of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the Word of the LORD.

12. And I said to them, “If it is good, give me my price; and if not, let it go.” So they weighed my price—thirty pieces of silver.

13. And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the princely price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

14. Then I broke my other staff Union apart, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15. And the LORD said to me, “Take to yourself yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd,

16. For lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor will he seek the young, nor will he heal that which is broken, nor will he feed that which stands. But he shall eat the flesh of the fat and break their hoofs in pieces.

17. Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword shall be on his arm and on his right eye; his arm shall be completely dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.”