Zechariah11

New Living Translation

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¹Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedar forests.

²Weep, you cypress trees, for all the ruined cedars; the most majestic ones have fallen. Weep, you oaks of Bashan, for the thick forests have been cut down.

³Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their rich pastures are destroyed. Hear the young lions roaring, for their thickets in the Jordan Valley are ruined.

⁴This is what the Lord my God says: “Go and care for the flock that is intended for slaughter.

⁵The buyers slaughter their sheep without remorse. The sellers say, ‘Praise the Lord! Now I’m rich!’ Even the shepherds have no compassion for them.

⁶Likewise, I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” says the Lord. “I will let them fall into each other’s hands and into the hands of their king. They will turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not rescue them.”

⁷So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor and the other Union.

⁸I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month. But I became impatient with these sheep, and they hated me, too.

⁹So I told them, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let those who remain devour each other!”

¹⁰Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, showing that I had revoked the covenant I had made with all the nations.

¹¹That was the end of my covenant with them. The suffering flock was watching me, and they knew that the Lord was speaking through my actions.

¹²And I said to them, “If you like, give me my wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.” So they counted out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent sum at which they valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the Lord.

¹⁴Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.

¹⁵Then the Lord said to me, “Go again and play the part of a worthless shepherd.

¹⁶This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for those who are dying, nor look after the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.

¹⁷“What sorrow awaits this worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! The sword will cut his arm and pierce his right eye. His arm will become useless, and his right eye completely blind.”

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