The Book of the Prophet Zechariah

Open your doors, O Lebanon, so that the fire may devour your cedars.

Howl, fir tree, for the cedar has fallen, because the majestic [trees] have been destroyed. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, for the inaccessible forest has come down.

A voice of the wailing of the shepherds [is heard], for their splendor is destroyed. A voice of the roaring of young lions [is heard], for the pride of Jordan is destroyed.

For so says Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter.

Those who buy them kill them and are not held guilty. And those who sell them say, Blessed [be] Jehovah, for I am rich. And their shepherds do not pity them.

For I will never again pity the inhabitants of the land, says Jehovah. But, lo, I will make the men fall, each one into his neighbor's hand, and into his king's hand. And they shall strike the land, and I will not deliver out of their hand.

And I fed the flock of slaughter, the truly poor of the flock. And I took two staffs for Myself: the one I called Kindness, and the other I called Union. And I fed the flock.

I also cut off three shepherds in one month. And My soul despised them, and their soul also detested Me.

Then I said, I will not feed you; that which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off. And let the rest eat, each woman the flesh of her neighbor.

And I took My staff Kindness and broke it apart, to break My covenant which I had cut with all the peoples.

And it was broken in that day, and so the poor of the flock who were watching Me knew that it [was] the word of Jehovah.

And I said to them, If [it is] good in your eyes, give My price; and if not, let it go. And they weighed My price, thirty [pieces] of silver.

And Jehovah said to Me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price at which I was valued by them. And I took the thirty [pieces of] silver and threw it to the potter in the house of Jehovah.

Then I broke apart My second staff Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

And Jehovah said to me, Again take to yourself the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land; he shall not visit those who are cut off, nor will he seek the young, nor will [he] heal that which is broken, nor will he sustain that which stands. But he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear off their hoofs.

Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword [shall be] against his arm and against his right eye. His arm shall be completely withered, and his right eye shall be totally darkened.