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

So I (H)pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, [e]therefore also the (I)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two (J)staffs: the one I called [f](K)Favor, and the other I called (L)Union; so I pastured the flock. Then I did away with the three shepherds in (M)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also [g]was tired of me. Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to (N)die, [h]let it die, and what is to perish, [i]let it perish; and [j]let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff [k](O)Favor and cut it in pieces, to [l](P)break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was [m]broken on that day, and [n]so the (Q)afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12 And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my (R)wages; but if not, [o]never mind!” So they weighed out (S)thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the (T)potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. 14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff (U)Union, to (V)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

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Footnotes

  1. Zechariah 11:5 Lit are not held guilty
  2. Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
  3. Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
  4. Zechariah 11:6 Lit hand
  5. Zechariah 11:7 Another reading is for the sheep dealers
  6. Zechariah 11:7 Or Pleasantness
  7. Zechariah 11:8 Or detested
  8. Zechariah 11:9 Or will die
  9. Zechariah 11:9 Or will perish
  10. Zechariah 11:9 Or those...will eat
  11. Zechariah 11:10 Or Pleasantness
  12. Zechariah 11:10 Or annul
  13. Zechariah 11:11 Or annulled
  14. Zechariah 11:11 Another reading is the sheep dealers who
  15. Zechariah 11:12 Lit cease

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