Zechariah 11-12

Easy-to-Read Version

God Will Punish the Other Nations

⁴ The Lord my God says, “Care for the sheep that have been raised to be killed. ⁵ Buyers kill their sheep and are not punished. Those who sell the sheep say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ The shepherds don’t feel sorry for their sheep. ⁶ And I don’t feel sorry for the people who live in this country.” This is what the Lord said: “Look, I will let everyone be under the control of their neighbor and king. I will let them destroy the country—I will not stop them!”

⁷ So I took care of the sheep that had been raised to be killed—those poor sheep. I found two sticks. I called one stick Favor, and I called the other stick Union. Then I began caring for the sheep. ⁸ I fired the three shepherds all in one month. I got angry at the sheep, and they began to hate me. ⁹ Then I said, “I quit! I will not take care of you! I will let those who want to die, die. I will let those who want to be destroyed, be destroyed, and those who are left will destroy each other.” ¹⁰ Then I took the stick named Favor, and I broke it. I did this to show that God’s agreement with his people was broken. ¹¹ So that day the agreement was finished, and those poor sheep watching me knew that this message was from the Lord.

¹² Then I said, “If you want to pay me, pay me. If not, don’t!” So they paid me 30 pieces of silver. ¹³ Then the Lord told me, “So that’s how much they think I’m worth. Throw that large amount of money^[b] into the Temple treasury.” So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury at the Lord’s Temple. ¹⁴ Then I cut the stick named Union into two pieces. I did this to show that the union between Judah and Israel had been broken.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Now, get the things a foolish shepherd might use. ¹⁶ This will show that I will get a new shepherd for this country. But this young man will not be able to take care of the sheep that are being destroyed. He will not be able to heal the hurt sheep or feed those that are left alive. And the healthy ones will be eaten completely—only their hoofs will be left.”

Visions About the Nations Around Judah

12 This is a message from the Lord about Israel. The Lord is the one who made the earth and the sky, and he put the human spirit in people. And this is what the Lord said: ² “Look, I will make Jerusalem like a cup of poison to the nations around her. The nations will come and attack that city, and all of Judah will be caught in the trap. ³ But I will make Jerusalem like a heavy rock—those who try to take it will hurt themselves. They will be cut and scratched. All the nations on earth will come together to fight against Jerusalem. ⁴ But at that time I will scare the horse, and the soldier riding it will panic. I will make all the enemy horses blind, but my eyes will be open—and I will be watching over Judah’s family. ⁵ The leaders of Judah will encourage the people and say, ‘The Lord All-Powerful is your God. He makes us strong.’ ⁶ At that time I will make the leaders of Judah like a fire burning in a forest. They will destroy their enemies like fire burning straw. They will destroy the enemy all around them, and the people in Jerusalem will again be able to sit back and relax.”

⁷ The Lord will save the people of Judah first, so the people in Jerusalem will not be able to brag too much. David’s family and the other people who live in Jerusalem will not be able to brag that they are better than the other people in Judah. ⁸ But the Lord will protect the people in Jerusalem. Even the man who trips and falls will become a great soldier like David. And the men from David’s family will be like gods—like the Lord’s own angel leading the people.

⁹ The Lord says, “At that time I will destroy the nations that came to fight against Jerusalem. ¹⁰ I will fill David’s family and the people living in Jerusalem with a spirit of kindness and mercy. They will look to me, the one they stabbed, and they will be very sad. They will be as sad as someone crying over the death of their only son, as sad as someone crying over the death of their firstborn son. ¹¹ There will be a time of great sadness and crying in Jerusalem. It will be like the time people cry over the death of Hadad Rimmon^[c] in Megiddo Valley. ¹² Each and every family will cry by itself. The men in David’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. The men in Nathan’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. ¹³ The men in Levi’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. The men in Simeon’s family will cry by themselves, and their wives will cry by themselves. ¹⁴ And the same thing will happen in all the other tribes. The men and women will cry by themselves.”