Zechariah 11-12

New King James Version

Desolation of Israel

Prophecy of the Shepherds

⁴ Thus says the Lord my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter, ⁵ whose owners slaughter them and ^(E)feel no guilt; those who sell them ^(F)say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do ^(G)not pity them. ⁶ For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall ^[b]attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”

⁷ So I fed the flock for slaughter, ^[c]in particular ^(H)the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called ^[d]Beauty, and the other I called ^[e]Bonds; and I fed the flock. ⁸ I ^[f]dismissed the three shepherds ^(I)in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will not feed you. ^(J)Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.” ¹⁰ And I took my staff, ^[g]Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was broken on that day. Thus ^(K)the^[h] poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² Then I said to them, “If it is ^[i]agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they ^(L)weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the ^(M)potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. ¹⁴ Then I cut in two my other staff, ^[j]Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ And the Lord said to me, ^(N)“Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in ^(O)pieces.

The Coming Deliverance of Judah

12 The ^[k]burden of the word of the Lord against Israel. Thus says the Lord, ^(Q)who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and ^(R)forms the spirit of man within him: ² “Behold, I will make Jerusalem ^(S)a cup of ^[l]drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples, when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. ^3 (T)And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem ^(U)a very heavy stone for all peoples; all who would heave it away will surely be cut in pieces, though all nations of the earth are gathered against it. ⁴ In that day,” says the Lord, ^(V)“I will strike every horse with confusion, and its rider with madness; I will open My eyes on the house of Judah, and will strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵ And the governors of Judah shall say in their heart, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in the Lord of hosts, their God.’ ⁶ In that day I will make the governors of Judah ^(W)like a firepan in the woodpile, and like a fiery torch in the sheaves; they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place—Jerusalem.

⁷ “The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem shall not become greater than that of Judah. ⁸ In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; the one who is feeble among them in that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the Angel of the Lord before them. ⁹ It shall be in that day that I will seek to ^(X)destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

^10 (Y)“And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will ^(Z)look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him ^(AA)as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. ¹¹ In that day there shall be a great ^(AB)mourning in Jerusalem, ^(AC)like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of ^[m]Megiddo. ^12 (AD)And the land shall mourn, every family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of ^(AE)Nathan by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei by itself, and their wives by themselves; ¹⁴ all the families that remain, every family by itself, and their wives by themselves.