Israel’s Shepherds: Good and Bad

⁴ Yahweh my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter. ⁵ Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished.^(G) Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them. ⁶ Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them.”^(H)

⁷ So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock.^[b] I took two staffs, calling one Favor^(I) and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock. ⁸ In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is going astray go astray; let the rest devour each other’s flesh.” ¹⁰ Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ It was annulled on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock^[c] who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² Then I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed my wages, 30 pieces of silver.^(J)

¹³ “Throw it to the potter,”^[d] the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord, to the potter.^{[e](K) 14} Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ The Lord also said to me: “Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd. ¹⁶ I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost^[f] or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy,^[g] but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep^(L) and tear off their hooves.

Judah’s Security

12 An Oracle

² “Look, I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes staggering^(P) for the peoples who surround the city. The siege against Jerusalem will also involve Judah. ³ On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who try to lift it will injure themselves severely when all the nations of the earth gather against her.^{(Q) 4} On that day”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness.^(R) I will keep a watchful eye on^(S) the house of Judah but strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. ⁵ Then each of the leaders of Judah will think to himself: The residents of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Hosts, their God. ⁶ On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves; they will consume all the peoples around them on the right and the left, while Jerusalem continues to be inhabited on its site, in Jerusalem. ⁷ The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of David’s house and the glory of Jerusalem’s residents may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that on that day the one who is weakest among them will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord, before them. ⁹ On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.

Mourning for the Pierced One

¹⁰ “Then I will pour out a spirit^[i](T) of grace and prayer on the house of David and the residents of Jerusalem, and they will look at^[j] Me whom they pierced. They will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child and weep bitterly for Him as one weeps for a firstborn.^{(U) 11} On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning of Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land will mourn, every family by itself: the family of David’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Nathan’s^[k](V) house by itself and their women by themselves; ¹³ the family of Levi’s house by itself and their women by themselves; the family of Shimei^[l](W) by itself and their women by themselves; ¹⁴ all the remaining families, every family by itself, and their women by themselves.