Dual Panel1OPEN YOUR doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars!
2Wail, O fir tree {and} cypress, for the cedar has fallen, because the glorious {and} lofty trees are laid waste! Wail, O you oaks of Bashan, for the thick {and} inaccessible forest [on the steep mountainside] has in flames been felled!
3A voice of the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory, the broad pasturage, is laid waste! A voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan [the jungle or thickets] is ruined!
4Thus says the Lord my God: Shepherd the flock [destined] for slaughter,
5Whose buyers {or} possessors slay them and hold themselves not guilty; and they who sell them say, Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich! And their own shepherds neither pity {nor} spare them [from the wolves].
6For I will no more pity {or} spare the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord; but behold, I will deliver every man into his neighbor's hand and into the hand of his [foreign] king. And [the enemy] shall lay waste the land, and I will not deliver [the people] out of the hand [of the foreign oppressor].
7So I [Zechariah] shepherded the flock of slaughter, truly [as the name implies] the most miserable of sheep. And I took two [shepherd's] staffs, the one I called Beauty {or} Grace and the other I called Bands {or} Union; and I fed {and} shepherded the flock.
8And I cut off the three shepherds [the civil authorities, the priests, and the prophets] in one month, for I was weary {and} impatient with them, and they also loathed me.
9So I [Zechariah] said, I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let the survivors devour one another's flesh.
10And I took my staff, Beauty {or} Grace, and broke it in pieces to show that I was annulling the covenant {or} agreement which I had made with all the peoples [not to molest them].
11So the covenant was annulled on that day, and thus the most wretched of the flock {and} the traffickers in the sheep who were watching me knew (recognized and understood) that it was truly the word of the Lord.
12And I said to them, If it seems just {and} right to you, give me my wages; but if not, withhold them. So they weighed out for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13And the Lord said to me, Cast it to the potter [as if He said, To the dogs!]--the munificently [miserable] sum at which I [and My shepherd] am priced by them! And I [Zechariah] took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
14Then I broke into pieces my other staff, Bands {or} Union, indicating that I was annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15And the Lord said to me, Take up once more the implements [the staff and rod of a shepherd, but this time] of a worthless {and} wicked shepherd.
16For behold, I will raise up a false shepherd in the land; the lost {and} perishing he will not miss {or} visit, the young {and} scattered he will not go to seek, the wounded {and} broken he will not heal, nor will he feed those that are sound {and} strong; but he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and break off their hoofs [to consume all the flesh].
17Woe to the worthless {and} foolish shepherd who deserts the flock! The sword shall smite his arm and his right eye; his arm shall be utterly withered and his right eye utterly blinded.