Zechariah 11

Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

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

2 Ref Howl, 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,

3 Ref A 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.

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

5 Ref Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed `is' Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

6 Ref For 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.'

7 Ref And 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.

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

9 Ref And 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.'

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

11 Ref and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it `is' a word of Jehovah.

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

13 Ref And 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 `to' the house of Jehovah, unto the potter.

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

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

16 Ref For 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.

17 Ref Wo `to' the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword `is' on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!'

World English Bible (WEB)

1 Ref Open your doors, Lebanon, That the fire may devour your cedars.

2 Ref Wail, fir 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 Ref 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 Ref Thus says Yahweh my God: "Feed the flock of slaughter.

5 Ref Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, 'Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;' and their own shepherds don't pity them.

6 Ref For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land," says Yahweh; "but, behold, I will deliver the men everyone 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 Ref So I fed the flock of slaughter, 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 Ref I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.

9 Ref 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 Ref I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.

11 Ref It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was the word of Yahweh.

12 Ref 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 Ref Yahweh 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 house of Yahweh.

14 Ref Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Ref Yahweh said to me, "Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

16 Ref 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 flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.

17 Ref Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!"

Bible in Basic English (BBE)

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

2 Ref Give 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.

3 Ref The 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.

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

5 Ref Whose 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.

6 Ref For 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.

7 Ref So 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.

8 Ref And 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.

9 Ref And 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.

10 Ref And 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.

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

12 Ref And 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.

13 Ref And 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.

14 Ref Then 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.

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

16 Ref For 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.

17 Ref A 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.

Chapter 11 of 14

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