Zechariah 11  Legacy Standard Bible

Woe to the Worthless Shepherd

⁴ Thus says Yahweh my God, “Shepherd the flock doomed to ^(E)slaughter. ⁵ Those who buy them slaughter them and are not ^(F)held guilty, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be Yahweh. Indeed, ^(G)I have become rich!’ And their ^(H)own shepherds do not spare them. ⁶ For I will ^(I)no longer spare the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh; “but behold, I will ^(J)cause the men to ^[d]fall, each into another’s hand and into the hand of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will ^(K)not deliver them from their hand.”

⁷ So I ^(L)shepherded the flock doomed to slaughter—^[e]hence the ^(M)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ^(N)staffs: the one I called ^[f](O)Favor, and the other I called ^[g](P)Union; so I shepherded the flock. ⁸ Then I annihilated the three shepherds in ^(Q)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ^[h]was weary of me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to ^(R)die, ^[i]let it die, and what is to be annihilated, ^[j]let it be annihilated; and ^[k]let those who remain consume one another’s flesh.” ¹⁰ And I took my staff ^[l](S)Favor and cut it in pieces, to ^[m](T)break my covenant which I had cut with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was ^[n]broken on that day, and ^[o]thus the ^(U)afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh. ¹² And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my ^(V)wages; but if not, ^[p]never mind!” So they weighed out ^(W)thirty ^[q]shekels of silver as my wages. ¹³ Then Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the ^(X)potter, that valuable 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 Yahweh. ¹⁴ Then I cut in pieces my second staff ^[r](Y)Union, to ^(Z)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a ^[s](AA)foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will ^(AB)not care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will ^(AC)consume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.