1 Woe to the Worthless Shepherd Open your doors, O Lebanon,That a fire may consume your cedars.
2 Wail, O 11:2Or juniper cypress, for the cedar has fallen,Because the mightytreeshave been destroyed;Wail, O oaks of Bashan,For the 11:2Or forest of the vintage impenetrable forest has come down.
3 There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail,For their might is destroyed;There is a sound of the young lions’ roar,For the 11:3Or jungle pride of the Jordan is destroyed.
4 Thus says Yahweh my God, “Shepherd the flockdoomedto slaughter.
5 Those who buy them slaughter them and are not held guilty, andeach ofthose who sell them says, ‘Blessed be Yahweh. Indeed, I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds do not spare them.
6 For I will no longer spare the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh; “but behold, I will cause the men to 11:6Lit find fall, each into another’s hand and into the hand of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will not deliverthemfrom their hand.”
7 So I shepherded the flockdoomedto slaughter— 11:7Or for the sheep dealers hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called 11:7Or Pleasantness Favor, and the other I called 11:7Or Cords Union; so I shepherded the flock.
8 Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also 11:8 Or detested was weary of me.
9 Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to die, 11:9Or will die let it die, and what is to be annihilated, 11:9Or will be annihilated let it be annihilated; and 11:9Or those...will eat let those who remain consume one another’s flesh.”
10 And I took my staff 11:10Or Pleasantness Favor and cut it in pieces, to 11:10Or annul break my covenant which I had cut with all the peoples.
11 So it was 11:11Or annulled broken on that day, and 11:11Or the sheep dealers who thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh.
12 And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, givememy wages; but if not, 11:12Lit cease never mind!” So they weighed out thirty 11:12A shekel was approx.0.4oz. or 11 gm shekelsof silver as my wages.
13 Then Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter,thatvaluable price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirtyshekelsof silver and threw them to the potter in the house of Yahweh.
14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff 11:14Or Cords Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a 11:15Lit ignorant foolish foolish shepherd.
16 For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will consume the flesh of the fatsheepand tear off their hoofs.
17 “Woe to the worthless shepherdWho forsakes the flock!A sword will be on his armAnd on his right eye!His arm will be totally dried up,And his right eye will be utterly dimmed.”