Zechariah11

American Standard Version · Public Domain

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

²Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the goodly ones are destroyed: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the strong forest is come down.

³A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste.

⁴Thus said Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter;

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

⁶For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor’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 fed the flock of slaughter, verily the 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.

⁸And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.

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

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

¹¹And it was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew that it was the word of Jehovah.

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

¹³And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house of Jehovah.

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

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

¹⁶For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those that are cut off, neither will seek those that are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.

¹⁷Woe to the worthless 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.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Zechariah 11.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: Destruction to come upon the Jews. (1–3). The Lord's dealing with the Jews. (4–14). The emblem and curse of a foolish shepherd. (15–17).

vv1-3

In figurative expressions, that destruction of Jerusalem, and of the Jewish church and nation, is foretold, which our Lord Jesus, when the time was at hand, prophesied plainly and expressly. How can the fir trees stand, if the cedars fall? The falls of the wise and good into sin, and the falls of the rich and great into trouble, are loud alarms to those every way their inferiors. It is sad with a people, when those who should be as shepherds to them, are as young lions. The pride of Jordan was the thickets on the banks; and when the river overflowed the banks, the lions came up from them roaring. Thus the doom of Jerusalem may alarm other churches.

vv4-14

Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish church and nation, which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate. Those have their minds wofully blinded, who do ill, and justify themselves in it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so. How can we go to God to beg a blessing on unlawful methods of getting wealth, or to return thanks for success in them? There was a general decay of religion among them, and they regarded it not. The Good Shepherd would feed his flock, but his attention would chiefly be directed to the poor. As an emblem, the prophet seems to have taken two staves; Beauty, denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation, in their national covenant; the other he called Bands, denoting the harmony which hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they chose to cleave to false teachers. The carnal mind and the friendship of the world are enmity to God; and God hates all the workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end in. The prophet demanded wages, or a reward, and received thirty pieces of silver. By Divine direction he cast it to the potter, as in disdain for the smallness of the sum. This shadowed forth the bargain of Judas to betray Christ, and the final method of applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly, as weakening the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the covenant between God and them: when sin abounds, love waxes cold, and civil contests follow. No wonder if those fall out among themselves, who have provoked God to fall out with them. Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men's ruin. And if professors rightly valued Christ, they would not contend about little matters.

vv15-17

God, having showed the misery of this people in their being justly left by the Good Shepherd, shows their further misery in being abused by foolish shepherds. The description suits the character Christ gives of the scribes and Pharisees. They never do any thing to support the weak, or comfort the feeble-minded; but seek their own ease, while they are barbarous to the flock. The idol shepherd has the garb and appearance of a shepherd, receives submission, and is supported at much expense; but he leaves the flock to perish through neglect, or leads them to ruin by his example. This suits many in different churches and nations, but the warning had an awful fulfilment in the Jewish teachers. And while such deceive others to their ruin, they will themselves have the deepest condemnation.

Key Words

OpenH6605Hebrew

פָּתַח: to open wide (literally or figuratively); specifically, to loosen, begin, plough, carve

doorsH1817Hebrew

דֶּלֶת: something swinging, i.e. the valve of adoor

LebanonH3844Hebrew

לְבָנוֹן: Lebanon, a mountain range in Palestine

fireH784Hebrew

אֵשׁ: fire (literally or figuratively)

devourH398Hebrew

אָכַל: to eat (literally or figuratively)

cedarsH730Hebrew

אֶרֶז: a cedar tree (from the tenacity of its roots)

WailH3213Hebrew

יָלַל: to howl (with a wailing tone) or yell (with a boisterous one)

cypressH1265Hebrew

בְּרוֹשׁ: a cypress (?) tree; hence, a lance or a musical instrument (as made of that wood)

fallenH5307Hebrew

נָפַל: to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitive or causative, literal or figurative)

gloriousH117Hebrew

אַדִּיר: wide or (generally) large; figuratively, powerful