Zechariah 11:4–14

The Two Shepherds

⁴Thus says Yahweh my God: “Shepherd the flock^b doomed to slaughter. ⁵The ones buying them kill them and go unpunished, and the ones selling them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I have become rich.’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them. ⁶For I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land,” declares^c Yahweh. “Look, I am going to cause humankind to fall, each into the hand of his neighbor, and into the hand of his king; and they will devastate the land, and I will not deliver anyone from their hand.”

⁷And I shepherded the flock^d doomed to slaughter, even^e the afflicted^f of the flock.^g I took two staffs, one I called Kindness, and the other I called Unity, and I shepherded the flock.^{h 8}And I got rid of three shepherds in one month, for I grew impatientⁱ with them, and they also became tired of me.^{j 9}So I said, “I will not shepherd you! The one dying will die, and the one to be destroyed will be destroyed. And the ones remaining, let them devour the flesh of each other.”^{k 10}And I took my staff Kindness and broke it, to break my covenant that I had made^l with all the peoples. ¹¹And it was broken on that day. Then the afflicted^m of the flock,ⁿ the ones who were watching me, knew that it was the word of Yahweh. ¹²And I said to them, “If it seems right to you,^o give me my wages, but if not, keep them.”^p And they weighed out my wages, thirty silver shekels. ¹³And Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter,”^q this noble price^r at which I was valued by them!” So I took the thirty silver shekels and I threw them to the potter^s in the house of Yahweh. ¹⁴Then I broke my second staff Unity to break the family ties between Judah and Israel.