⁷ So on behalf of the sheep merchants,^[a] I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep.^(A)

Two Kinds of Shepherds

⁴ “Thus says the Lord my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.^(A)

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff Unity, annulling the family ties between Judah and Israel.

¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.^{(A) 14} For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us,^{(B) 15} abolishing the law with its commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace,^{(C) 16} and might reconcile both to God in one body^[a] through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it.^[b](D)

¹⁶ Mortal, take a stick and write on it, “For Judah and the Israelites associated with it”; then take another stick and write on it, “For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it”;^{(A) 17} and join them together into one stick, so that they may become one in your hand. ¹⁸ And when your people say to you, “Will you not show us what you mean by these?” ¹⁹ say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: I am about to take the stick of Joseph (which is in the hand of Ephraim) and the tribes of Israel associated with it, and I will put the stick of Judah upon it^[a] and make them one stick, in order that they may be one in my hand.”^{(B) 20} When the sticks on which you write are in your hand before their eyes, ²¹ then say to them, “Thus says the Lord God: I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone and will gather them from every quarter and bring them to their own land.^{(C) 22} I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king over them all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided into two kingdoms.^{(D) 23} They shall never again defile themselves with their idols and their detestable things or with any of their transgressions. I will save them from all the apostasies into which they have fallen^[b] and will cleanse them. Then they shall be my people, and I will be their God.^(E)

The Good News of Deliverance

⁵ Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him?^(A)