Zechariah 11

This is what God my God said to me, “Act as a shepherd for a flock of sheep that people are about to slaughter.

The people who buy the sheep slaughter them, and no one punishes those buyers. The people who sell the sheep say that they praise God because they are becoming rich. Not even the shepherds pity the sheep.

That is because I, God, will no longer pity the people who live in this land. That is what I, God, declare. Instead, I will let everyone’s neighbors and their king dominate them. Those people will devastate this land, and I will not rescue anyone from their control.” \*

So I became like a shepherd of a flock of sheep that people were about to slaughter. I took good care of the sheep, especially the weakest ones. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs. I named one staff “Favor” and the other staff, “Union.” And I took care of the sheep.

In one month I got rid of the three other shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also hated me.

So I said, “I will no longer be your shepherd. Let the sheep that are dying die, and let the sheep that are perishing perish. And let those that remain destroy each other.” \*

Then I took my staff that I had named “Favor,” and I broke it to signify that God was canceling the covenant that he had made with all the peoples.

So the covenant ended on that day. Then the afflicted people of the flock who were watching me knew that this was truly a message from God.

I said to them, “If it seems right to you, pay me my wages; but if not, do not pay me.” So they weighed out my wages: thirty pieces of silver. \*

Then God said to me, “Throw that money to the potter! What a pathetic price they decided to pay for me!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the temple of God.

Then I broke my second staff, the one that I had named “Union,” to signify that the close family relationship between the people of Judah and the people of Israel would end. \*

Then God said to me, “Take again the tools that a foolish shepherd uses,

because surely I am going to appoint a shepherd over the people in this land, one who will not care for them. He will not help the sheep that are perishing, he will not search for the ones that have strayed, he will not heal the ones that are injured, and he will not feed the healthy ones. Instead, he will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves. \* 17 Terrible things will happen to that worthless shepherd who abandons the flock that he should care for! Enemies will attack his arm and his right eye with a sword! As a result, his arm will lose all its strength and his right eye will become completely blind!” \*