Zechariah 11:1-11

New American Standard Bible

The Doomed Flock

11 Open your doors, Lebanon,

So that a ^(A)fire may feed on your ^(B)cedars.
²Wail, juniper, because the cedar has fallen,
For the magnificent trees have been destroyed;
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
Because the ^[a]impenetrable forest has come down.
³There is a sound of the shepherds’ ^(C)wail,
For their splendor is ruined;
There is a ^(D)sound of the young lions’ roar,
For the ^[b]pride of the Jordan is ruined.

⁴This is what the Lord my God says: “Pasture the flock doomed to ^(E)slaughter. ⁵Those who buy them slaughter them and ^[c]go ^(F)unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for ^(G)I have become rich!’ And their ^(H)own shepherds have no compassion for them. ⁶For I will ^(I)no longer have compassion for the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will ^(J)let the people fall, each into another’s ^[d]power and into the ^[e]power of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will ^(K)not rescue them from their ^[f]power.”

⁷So I ^(L)pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, ^[g]therefore also the ^(M)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ^(N)staffs: the one I called ^[h]^(O)Favor, and the other I called ^(P)Union; so I pastured the flock. ⁸Then I did away with the three shepherds in ^(Q)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ^[i]was tired of me. ⁹Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to ^(R)die, ^[j]let it die, and what is to perish, ^[k]let it perish; and ^[l]let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” ¹⁰And I took my staff ^[m]^(S)Favor and cut it in pieces, to ^[n]^(T)break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹So it was ^[o]broken on that day, and ^[p]so the ^(U)afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord.