Zechariah 11-12

American Standard Version

11 Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. ² Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the ^[a]goodly ones are destroyed: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the ^[b]strong forest is 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 laid waste.

⁴ Thus said Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter; ⁵ whose ^[c]possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich; and ^[d]their own shepherds pity them not. ⁶ For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’s hand, and into the hand of his king; and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them. ⁷ So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily ^[e]the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called ^[f]Beauty, and the other I called ^[g]Bands; and I fed the flock. ⁸ And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. ⁹ Then said I, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and ^[h]that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another. ¹⁰ And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ And it was broken in that day; and ^[i]thus ^[j]the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew that it was the word of Jehovah. ¹² And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of silver. ¹³ And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house of Jehovah. ¹⁴ Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ And Jehovah said unto me, Take unto thee yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not ^[k]visit those that are ^[l]cut off, neither will seek ^[m]those that are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which ^[n]is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces. ¹⁷ Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

12 The ^[o]burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel.

Thus saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: ² Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and ^[p]upon Judah also ^[q]shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. ³ And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. ⁴ In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with terror, and his rider with madness; and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness. ⁵ And the chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God. ⁶ In that day will I make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, on the right hand and on the left; and they of Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in ^[r]their own place, even in Jerusalem. ⁷ Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah. ⁸ In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and he ^[s]that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. ⁹ And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

¹⁰ And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they shall look unto ^[t]me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born. ¹¹ In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem, as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon. ¹² And the land shall mourn, every family apart; the family of the house of David apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart; ¹³ the family of the house of Levi apart, and their wives apart; the family of the Shimeites apart, and their wives apart; ¹⁴ all the families that remain, every family apart, and their wives apart.