For the teraphim (household idols) speak wickedness (emptiness, worthlessness), And the diviners see lying visions And tell false dreams; They comfort in vain. Therefore the people wander like sheep, They are afflicted and suffer because there is no shepherd.

“My anger is kindled against the shepherds [who are not true shepherds], And I shall punish the male goats (leaders); For the Lord of hosts has visited His flock, the house of Judah (the Southern Kingdom), And will make them like His beautiful and majestic horse in the battle.

There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail, For their splendor (grazing land) is ruined; There is a sound of the young lions’ roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

whose buyers slay them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them nor protect them [from the wolves].

So I [Zechariah] pastured the flock doomed for slaughter, truly [as the name implies] the most miserable of sheep. And I took two [shepherd’s] staffs, the one I called Favor (Grace) and the other I called Union (Bonds); so I pastured the flock.

Then I eliminated the three [incompetent, unfit] shepherds [the civil rulers, the priests, and the prophets] in one month, for I was impatient with them, and they also were tired of me and despised me.

The Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment [of a shepherd, but this time] of a foolish shepherd.

For behold, I am going to raise up a [false] shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or feed the healthy; but will eat the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hoofs [to consume everything].

“Woe (judgment is coming) to the worthless and foolish shepherd Who deserts the flock! The sword will strike his arm And his right eye! His arm shall be totally withered And his right eye completely blinded.”

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, And against the Man, My Associate,” Declares the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd so that the sheep [of the flock] may be scattered; And I will turn My hand and stretch it out against the little ones [of the flock].