Zechariah 11

Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire can burn up your cedar trees.

1Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

NoteLebanon is the mountain country north of Israel, famous throughout the ancient world for its cedar forests. Cedar was the premium building timber, shipped out for palaces and temples, so "the cedars of Lebanon" stood as shorthand for wealth and grandeur. Addressing a country or a tree directly, as if it could hear, is a standard move in Hebrew poetry.

2Wail, cypress tree, because the cedar has fallen; the great trees are ruined. Wail, oaks of Bashan, because the thick forest has been cut down.

2Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

NoteBashan was the fertile upland region east of the Sea of Galilee, known for its oak woods and its cattle. Its oaks and Lebanon's cedars together name the tallest, strongest trees the region had, which is why the poem uses them for the powerful people being brought down.

3Listen to the shepherds wailing, because everything that made them proud is ruined. Listen to the young lions roaring, because the thick growth along the Jordan River is destroyed.

3There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

Note"Shepherd" was the ordinary ancient title for a ruler; kings across the Near East, and in Israel, were routinely called shepherds of their people. So the wailing shepherds here are leaders losing what they ruled. The thickets along the Jordan were dense riverside jungle where lions actually lived; when the growth burned or was cleared, the lions lost their cover, which is why they roar.

4This is what the LORD my God says: Take care of the flock of sheep that is meant to be killed.

4Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

NoteProphets were often told to act something out in public rather than only speak it, and the rest of this chapter is one of those acted-out signs: the prophet plays the shepherd. A "flock of the slaughter" is a flock being kept alive only until it is butchered, the sheep the owner has already written off as meat.

5The people who buy them kill them and feel no guilt about it. The people who sell them say, "Praise the LORD, I am rich!" And the sheep's own shepherds feel no pity for them.

5Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

NoteThe sellers' "Praise the LORD, I am rich" is the ordinary thanksgiving a person spoke over good fortune. The point of quoting it is the contrast between the pious formula and how the money was made.

6The LORD says: I will no longer pity the people who live in the land. Instead, I will hand each person over to his neighbor and to his king. They will crush the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their power.

6For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’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.

7So I took care of the flock meant to be killed, especially the weak and mistreated ones in the flock. I took two shepherd's staffs for myself. I named one Favor and the other Union, and I took care of the flock.

7And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

NoteA shepherd carried a staff for guiding and controlling the flock, and giving each one a name turns it into a labeled sign the onlookers can read. The first name (Hebrew *noam*) means favor, kindness, or pleasantness; the King James "Beauty" is an older sense of that word. The second (Hebrew *hovlim*) means binders or bindings, hence "Union" for the tie holding groups together; the King James "Bands" means bonds, not musical groups.

8In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I ran out of patience with them, and they hated me too.

8Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

NoteWhich three shepherds these were has been argued over since antiquity and no one knows; the text simply does not say. "Cut off" here means removed from office, and can carry the harder sense of killed.

9Then I said, "I will not take care of you anymore. Let the ones who are dying die, and let the ones who are being destroyed be destroyed. Let the ones who are left eat each other's flesh."

9Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

NoteSurvivors eating each other's flesh was the stock ancient picture of a city under siege, where the food runs out and social order collapses entirely. It names the worst thing that could happen to a besieged population.

10Then I took my staff named Favor and cut it in two. By doing this I canceled the agreement I had made with all the peoples.

10And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

NoteA covenant is a binding formal agreement, with terms and obligations on both sides, of the kind kings made with each other. The Hebrew phrase can mean "all the peoples" or "all the nations", and readers have differed over whether the agreement was with the flock's own people or with the surrounding nations, restraining them from attacking. Snapping the staff in public is how you show an agreement is annulled.

11It was canceled that day. So the weak and mistreated ones in the flock, who were watching me, knew that this was a message from the LORD.

11And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

12Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, pay me my wages. If not, keep them." So they weighed out my wages: thirty pieces of silver.

12And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

NoteSilver was weighed out on scales rather than counted as coins in this period. Thirty pieces of silver is the exact amount set in Israel's law as the compensation owed to an owner when an ox gored a slave to death: the standard valuation of a slave. Offered as a man's wages, it is a calculated insult, which is why the next verse calls it a "grand price" sarcastically.

13And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the potter": that grand price they thought I was worth. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the LORD's temple.

13And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

NoteThe Hebrew word here is *yotser*, potter, and no one is certain what throwing wages to a potter in the temple would mean; some ancient versions and a few Hebrew copies read the very similar word *otsar*, treasury, which would mean throwing the money into the temple funds. Translators still split over which reading is original, and this rendering keeps the potter.

14Then I cut my other staff, Union, in two. By doing this I broke the family bond between Judah and Israel.

14Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

NoteAfter Solomon's death the kingdom split in two: the northern tribes kept the name Israel, the southern part around Jerusalem was Judah. The two were kin and often enemies, so "the family bond between Judah and Israel" is the relationship between the two halves of a once-single nation.

15And the LORD said to me: Now pick up the gear of a foolish shepherd.

15And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

NoteThe gear is a shepherd's working kit: staff, rod, bag, knife. "Foolish" in Hebrew usage is not about low intelligence but about being reckless and morally careless, the kind of person who ignores what he owes others.

16Watch: I am going to put a shepherd in charge in the land who will not look after the ones that are lost, or search for the young ones, or heal the injured ones, or feed the healthy ones. Instead he will eat the meat of the best sheep and tear off their hooves.

16For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

NoteTearing off the hooves pictures a shepherd stripping even the inedible last parts of the animal, the opposite of every duty just listed. The King James "claws" is an older English word for hooves.

17How terrible for that worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye. May his arm wither away completely, and may his right eye go totally blind.

17Woe to the idol 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.

NoteThe King James "idol shepherd" translates a Hebrew word meaning worthless or good-for-nothing; it is not about idols. The arm and the right eye are the shepherd's two tools of the trade, the strength to fight off predators and the sight to watch the flock, so the curse takes away exactly the capacities he failed to use.