Zechariah 11

1Let your doors be open, O Lebanon, so that fire may be burning among your cedars.

1Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars.

1Open thy gates, O Libanus, and let fire devour thy cedars.

2Give a cry of grief, O fir-tree, for the fall of the cedar, because the great ones have been made low: give cries of grief, O you oaks of Bashan, for the strong trees of the wood have come down.

2Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest,

2Howl, thou fir tree, for the cedar is fallen, for the mighty are laid waste: howl, ye oaks of Basan, because the fenced forest is cut down.

3The sound of the crying of the keepers of the flock! for their glory is made waste: the sound of the loud crying of the young lions! for the pride of Jordan is made waste.

3A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

3The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of the Jordan is spoiled.

4This is what the Lord my God has said: Take care of the flock of death;

4Thus said Jehovah my God: `Feed the flock of the slaughter,

4Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,

5Whose owners put them to death and have no sense of sin; and those who get a price for them say, May the Lord be praised for I have much wealth: and the keepers of the flock have no pity for them.

5Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed <FI>is<Fi> Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

5Which they that possessed, slew, and repented not, and they sold them, saying: Blessed be the Lord, we are become rich: and their shepherds spared them not.

6For I will have no more pity for the people of the land, says the Lord; but I will give up everyone into his neighbour's hand and into the hand of his king: and they will make the land waste, and I will not keep them safe from their hands.

6For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.'

6And I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: behold I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall destroy the land, and I will not deliver it out of their hand.

7So I took care of the flock of death, for those who made profit out of the flock; and I took for myself two rods, naming one Beautiful, and the other Bands; and I took care of the flock.

7And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock.

7And I will feed the flock of slaughter for this, O ye poor of the flock. And I took unto me two rods, one I called Beauty, and the other I called a Cord, and I fed the flock.

8And in one month I put an end to the three keepers of the flock; for my soul was tired of them, and their souls were disgusted with me.

8And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me.

8And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was straitened in their regard: for their soul also varied in my regard.

9And I said, I will not take care of you: If death comes to any, let death be its fate; if any is cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest take one another's flesh for food.

9And I say, `I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.'

9And I said: I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die: and that which is cut off, let it be cut off: and let the rest devour every one the flesh of his neighbour.

10And I took my rod Beautiful, cutting it in two, so that the Lord's agreement, which he had made with all the peoples, might be broken.

10And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples:

10And I took my rod that was called Beauty, and I cut it asunder to make void my covenant, which I had made with all people.

11And it was broken on that day: and the sheep-traders, who were watching me, were certain that it was the word of the Lord.

11and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it <FI>is<Fi> a word of Jehovah.

11And it was made void in that day: and so the poor of the flock that keep for me, understood that it is the word of the Lord.

12And I said to them, If it seems good to you, give me my payment; and if not, do not give it. So they gave me my payment by weight, thirty shekels of silver.

12And I say unto them: `If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;' and they weigh out my hire--thirty silverlings.

12And I said to them: If it be good in your eyes, bring hither my wages: and if not, be quiet. And they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

13And the Lord said to me, Put it into the store-house, the price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty shekels of silver and put them into the store-house in the house of the Lord.

13And Jehovah saith unto me, `Cast it unto the potter;' the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them <FI>to<Fi> the house of Jehovah, unto the potter.

13And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the statuary, a handsome price, that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast them into the house of the Lord to the statuary.

14Then I took my other rod, the one named Bands, cutting it in two, so that the relation of brothers between Judah and Israel might be broken.

14And I cut asunder my second staff, Bands, to break the unity between Judah and Israel.

14And I cut off my second rod that was called a Cord, that I might break the brotherhood between Juda and Israel.

15And the Lord said to me, Take again the instruments of a foolish keeper of sheep.

15And Jehovah saith unto me, `Again take to thee the instrument of a foolish shepherd.

15And the Lord said to me: Take to thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

16For see, I will put a sheep-keeper over the land, who will have no care for that which is cut off, and will not go in search of the wanderers, or make well what is broken, and he will not give food to that which is ill, but he will take for his food the flesh of the fat, and let their feet be broken.

16For lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he doth not inspect, The shaken off he doth not seek, And the broken he doth not heal, The standing he doth not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he doth eat, And their hoofs he doth break off.

16For behold I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not visit what is forsaken, nor seek what is scattered, nor heal what is broken, nor nourish that which standeth, and he shall eat the flesh of the fat ones, and break their hoofs.

17A curse on the foolish keeper who goes away from the flock! the sword will be on his arm and on his right eye: his arm will become quite dry and his eye will be made completely dark.

17Woe <FI>to<Fi> the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword <FI>is<Fi> on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!'

17O shepherd, and idol, that forsaketh the flock: the sword upon his arm and upon his right eye: his arm shall quite wither away, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.