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Trouble for Israel's Enemies

11 Lebanon, open your gates!
Let the fire come in
    to destroy your cedar trees.
Cry, you cypress trees!
The glorious cedars have fallen
    and are rotting.
Cry, you oak trees of Bashan!
The dense forest
    has been chopped down.
Listen! Shepherds are crying.
Their glorious pastures
    have been ruined.
Listen! Lions are roaring.
The forests of the Jordan Valley
    are no more to be found.

Worthless Shepherds

The Lord my God said to me:

Tend those sheep doomed for slaughter! The people who buy and butcher them go unpunished, while everyone who sells them says, “Praise the Lord! I'm rich.” Not even their shepherds have pity on them.

Tend those sheep because I, the Lord, will no longer have pity on the people of this earth. I'll turn neighbor against neighbor and make them slaves of a king. They will bring disaster on the earth, and I'll do nothing to rescue any of them.

So I became a shepherd of those sheep doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep dealers.[a] And I gave names to the two sticks I used for tending the sheep: One of them was named “Mercy” and the other “Unity.” In less than a month, I became impatient with three shepherds who didn't like me, and I got rid of them. Then I said, “I refuse to be your shepherd. Let the sheep that are going to die, go on and die, and those that are going to be destroyed, go on and be destroyed. Then let the others eat one another alive.”

10 On that same day, I broke the stick named “Mercy” to show that the Lord had canceled his agreement with all people. 11 The sheep dealers who saw me knew at once that this was a message from the Lord. 12-13 (A) I told them, “Pay me my wages, if you think you should; otherwise, forget it.” So they handed me my wages, a measly 30 pieces of silver.

Then the Lord said, “Throw the money into the treasury.”[b] So I threw the money into the treasury at the Lord's temple. 14 Then I broke the stick named “Unity” and canceled the ties between Judah and Israel.

15 Next, the Lord said to me, “Act like a shepherd again—this time a worthless shepherd. 16 Once more I am going to let a worthless nobody rule the land—one who won't care for the strays or search for the young or heal the sick or feed the healthy. He will just dine on the fattest sheep, leaving nothing but a few bones.”

17 You worthless shepherd,
    deserting the sheep!
I hope a sword
will cripple your arm
    and blind your right eye.

Victory for Jerusalem

12 This is a message from the Lord about Israel:

I am the Lord! I stretched out the heavens; I put the earth on its foundations and gave breath to humans. I have decided that Jerusalem will become a bowl of wine that makes the neighboring nations drunk. And when Jerusalem is attacked, Judah will also be attacked.[c] But I will turn Jerusalem into a heavy stone that crushes anyone who tries to lift it.

When all nations on earth surround Jerusalem, I will blind every horse and make them panic, and every rider will be confused. But at the same time, I will watch over Judah. Then every clan in Judah will realize that I, the Lord All-Powerful, am their God, and that I am the source of their strength.

At that time I will let the clans of Judah be like a ball of fire in a wood pile or a fiery torch in a hay stack. Then Judah will send the surrounding nations up in smoke. And once again the city of Jerusalem will be filled with people.

But I will first give victory to Judah, so the kingdom of David and the city of Jerusalem in all of their glory won't be thought of more highly than Judah itself. I, the Lord God, will protect Jerusalem. Even the weakest person there will be as strong as David, and David's kingdom will rule as though my very own angel were its leader. I am determined to wipe out every nation that attacks Jerusalem.

Mourning for the One Pierced with a Spear

10 (B) I, the Lord, will make the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem feel deep sorrow and pray when they see the one they pierced with a spear. They will mourn and weep for him, as parents weep over the death of their only child or their first-born. 11 On that day the people of Jerusalem will mourn as much as everyone did for Hadad Rimmon[d] on the flatlands near Megiddo. 12 Everyone of each family in the land will mourn, and the men will mourn separately from the women. This includes those from the family of David, and the families of Nathan, 13 Levi, Shimei,[e] 14 and all other families as well.

Footnotes

  1. 11.7 by the sheep dealers: One ancient translation; Hebrew “especially the weak ones.”
  2. 11.12,13 Throw … treasury: Hebrew “Throw the money to the potter.”
  3. 12.2 Judah … attacked: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.
  4. 12.11 Hadad Rimmon: Not mentioned elsewhere in the Old Testament.
  5. 12.13 Shimei: A descendant of Gershon son of Levi (see Numbers 3.18).

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