Zechariah11

New King James Version

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¹Open your doors, O Lebanon, That fire may devour your cedars.

²Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, Because the mighty trees are ruined. Wail, O oaks of Bashan, For the thick forest has come down.

³There is the sound of wailing shepherds! For their glory is in ruins. There is the sound of roaring lions! For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins.

⁴Thus says the Lord my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter,

⁵whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do not pity them.

⁶For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”

⁷So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock.

⁸I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

⁹Then I said, “I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.”

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

¹¹So it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.

¹²Then I said to them, “If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter.

¹⁴Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵And the Lord said to me, “Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd.

¹⁶For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.

¹⁷“Woe to the worthless shepherd, Who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm And against his right eye; His arm shall completely wither, And his right eye shall be totally blinded.”

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