11
1 Open
your doors,
Lebanon,
that the fire may devour
your cedars.
2 Wail,
cypress tree, for
the cedar has
fallen,
because the stately ones
are destroyed.
Wail, you oaks of
Bashan,
for the strong
forest has come
down.
3 A
voice of the
wailing of the
shepherds!
For their glory
is destroyed—a
voice of the
roaring of young
lions!
For the pride
of the Jordan
is ruined.
4 The
LORD my God
says: “Feed the
flock of slaughter.
5 Their buyers
slaughter them and
go unpunished.
Those who sell
them say, ‘Blessed
be the LORD,
for I am
rich;’ and
their own shepherds don’t
pity them.
6 For
I will no
more pity the
inhabitants of
the land,” says
the LORD; “but,
behold, I will
deliver every one
of the men into
his neighbor’s
hand and into
the hand of
his king. They
will strike
the land, and out
of their hand
I will not
deliver them.”
7 So
I fed the
flock to
be slaughtered, especially the
oppressed of the
flock. I took
for myself two
staffs. The one
I called “Favor”
and the other
I called “Union”,
and I fed
the flock.
8 I
cut off the
three shepherds in
one month; for
my soul was weary
of them, and
their soul
also loathed me.
9 Then
I said, “I will
not feed you.
That which dies,
let it die;
and that which
is to be
cut off, let
it be cut
off; and let those
who are left
eat each other’s flesh.”
10 I
took my staff
Favor and cut
it apart, that I
might break my
covenant that I
had made with
all the peoples.
11 It
was broken in
that day; and
thus the poor
of the flock
that listened to
me knew that
it was the
LORD’s word.
12 I said
to them, “If you
think it best,
give me my
wages; and if not,
keep them.” So they
weighed for my
wages thirty pieces
of silver.
13 The
LORD said to me,
“Throw it to
the potter—the
handsome price that
I was valued
at by them!”
I took the
thirty pieces of
silver and threw
them to the
potter in the
LORD’s house.
14 Then
I cut apart my
other staff, Union,
that I might
break the brotherhood between
Judah and Israel.
15 The
LORD said to me,
“Take for yourself
yet again the
equipment of
a foolish shepherd.
16 For,
behold, I will
raise up a
shepherd in
the land who will
not visit those
who are cut
off, neither will
seek those who
are scattered, nor
heal that which
is broken, nor
feed that which
is sound; but he
will eat the
meat of the
fat sheep, and
will tear their
hoofs in pieces.
17 Woe
to the worthless
shepherd who
leaves the flock!
The sword
will strike his
arm and his
right eye. His
arm will be
completely withered,
and his right
eye will be
totally blinded!”