Zechariah 10:3-11:9

English Standard Version

³^(A)“My anger is hot against the shepherds,
    and ^(B)I will punish the leaders;^[a]
for ^(C)the Lord of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah,
    and will make them like his majestic steed in battle.
⁴From him shall come ^(D)the cornerstone,
    from him ^(E)the tent peg,
from him the battle bow,
    from him every ruler—^(F)all of them together.
⁵They shall be like mighty men in battle,
    ^(G)trampling the foe in the mud of the streets;
they shall fight because the Lord is with them,
    and they shall put to shame ^(H)the riders on horses.

⁶^(I)“I will strengthen the house of Judah,
    and ^(J)I will save the house of Joseph.
^(K)I will bring them back ^(L)because I have compassion on them,
    and they shall be as though I had not rejected them,
    for ^(M)I am the Lord their God and I will answer them.
⁷Then Ephraim shall become like a mighty warrior,
    and ^(N)their hearts shall be glad as with wine.
Their children shall see it and be glad;
    their hearts shall rejoice in the Lord.

⁸^(O)“I will whistle for them and ^(P)gather them in,
    for I have redeemed them,
    and ^(Q)they shall be as many as they were before.
⁹^(R)Though I scattered them among the nations,
    yet in far countries ^(S)they shall remember me,
    and with their children they shall live and return.
¹⁰^(T)I will bring them home from the land of Egypt,
    and gather them from Assyria,
and ^(U)I will bring them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon,
    ^(V)till there is no room for them.
¹¹^(W)He shall pass through the sea of troubles
    and strike down the waves of the sea,
    ^(X)and all the depths of the Nile shall be dried up.
The pride of Assyria shall be laid low,
    and ^(Y)the scepter of Egypt shall depart.
¹²^(Z)I will make them strong in the Lord,
    and ^(AA)they shall walk in his name,”
declares the Lord.

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

11 Open your doors, ^(AB)O Lebanon,
    that the fire may devour your cedars!
²Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
    for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, ^(AC)oaks of Bashan,
    for the thick forest has been felled!
³The sound of ^(AD)the wail of ^(AE)the shepherds,
    for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of ^(AF)the lions,
    ^(AG)for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

⁴Thus said the Lord my God: ^(AH)“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. ⁵^(AI)Those who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, ^(AJ)I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶For ^(AK)I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

⁷^(AL)So I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^(AM)Favor, the other I named ^(AN)Union. ^(AO)And I tended the sheep. ⁸In one month ^(AP)I destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. ^(AQ)What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.”