Zechariah 11
EasyEnglish Bible
The sheep and the shepherd
11 Open your gates, Lebanon,
so that the fires can burn down your cedar trees.
2 Cry aloud, cypress tree, because the cedar tree has fallen.
Enemies have cut down the tall and beautiful trees.
Cry aloud, oak trees in Bashan,
because they have cut down the thick forest.
3 Listen to the shepherds!
They are crying because enemies have destroyed their fields.
Listen to the noise of the lions!
They are roaring because the trees beside the Jordan River
are no longer there.
The two shepherds[a]
4 This is what the Lord said to me, Zechariah. ‘My people are like sheep. There will be a time when men will buy them. And then they will kill them. But feed them until that time.
5 Those men who buy the sheep will kill them. Nobody will punish them. They will sell them. And they will say, “Thank you Lord, because I am a rich man.” Their own shepherds do not give the sheep any help.’
6 The Lord says, ‘The people in this country were my people, but they are not my people now. I will not go on being kind to them. I myself will give them to their enemies and to foreign kings. The foreign kings will do very bad things to the country, but I will not come to help.’
7 So I was a good shepherd to the sheep that men would soon kill. I took special care of the weakest sheep. Then I took two sticks. And I called one stick ‘Grace’ and I called the other stick ‘Together’. I fed the sheep.
8 In one month, I sent away three shepherds. They did not like me and I was not patient with them.
9 I said to the sheep, ‘I will not be your shepherd and you will die. The sheep that do not die will eat each other.’
10 I took ‘Grace’ which was my first stick. I broke it into two pieces. The Lord's promise to his people finished.
11 On the day that the Lord's promise finished, the weak sheep watched me. They knew that it was the Lord's message.
12 I said to them, ‘You may think that I should have some money for my work. If you do think that, pay me my money. If you do not want to pay me, keep it.’ So they paid me 30 silver coins.
13 The Lord said to me, ‘Throw the 30 silver coins to the man who makes pots in the house of the Lord.’ They thought that I was not worth very much! I took the 30 coins. And I threw them to the man who makes pots. He makes them for the house of the Lord.
14 Then I broke the second stick called ‘Together’. I made the kingdom of Judah separate from the kingdom of Israel. 15 Then the Lord said to me, Zechariah, ‘Take again the tools of a useless shepherd. 16 I have chosen a man to watch the sheep. He will not help the sheep that are dying. He will not look for the sheep that have gone away. He will not help the sick sheep or feed the strong sheep. He will eat the meat of the fat sheep. He will tear off their feet to get all the meat.
17 Bad things will happen to the bad shepherd who leaves his sheep.
His enemy's knife will cut his arm and his right eye.
His arm will become like a dry stick. And his right eye will no longer be able to see anything.’
Footnotes
- 11:4 Zechariah will now talk about shepherds. But now he means the rulers who should help their people.
Zechariah 11
Jubilee Bible 2000
11 ¶ Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
2 Howl, fir tree, for the cedar is fallen because the magnificent are cut down; howl, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong mountain is brought down.
3 There is a voice of the howling of the pastors; for their magnificence is destroyed; a voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan is destroyed.
4 ¶ Thus hath the LORD my God said, Feed the flock of the slaughter,
5 whose buyers slayed them and held themselves not guilty; and he that sold them said, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and not even their own shepherds had compassion on them.
6 Therefore I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD; but, behold, I will deliver the men each one into his neighbour’s hand and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and I will not deliver them out of their hands.
7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. For I took unto me two staves: the one I named Beauty, and the other Bands; and I fed the flock.
8 I also cut off three shepherds in one month; and my soul was in anguish for them, and their soul also abhorred me.
9 Then I said, I will not feed you any longer; the one that dies, let it die; and the one that is to be lost, let it be lost; and let the rest eat each one the flesh of another.
10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
11 And it was broken in that day; and so the poor of the flock that look unto me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my wages; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the treasury: a goodly price that I was appraised at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them in the house of the LORD unto the treasury.
14 Then I cut asunder my other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 ¶ And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
16 For, behold, I raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that are lost, neither shall seek the young one nor heal the one that is broken nor carry the one that is tired, but he shall eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hoofs in pieces.
17 Woe to the useless pastor that leaves the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eye; his arm shall be completely dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Copyright © 2013, 2020 by Ransom Press International