Study Desk

Open your gates, Lebanon, and fire will consume your cedars.^(a)

Wail, cypress,^(b) for the cedar has fallen; the glorious trees are destroyed! Wail, oaks of Bashan,^(c) for the stately forest has fallen!

Listen to the wail^(d) of the shepherds, for their glory is destroyed. Listen to the roar of young lions,^(e) for the thickets of the Jordan^(f) are^[a] destroyed.

Yahweh my God says this: "Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

Those who buy them slaughter them but are not punished.^(g) Those who sell them say: Praise the Lord because I have become rich! Even their own shepherds have no compassion for them.

Indeed, I will no longer have compassion on the inhabitants of the land"—this is the Lord 's declaration. "Instead, I will turn everyone over to his neighbor and his king. They will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from them."^(h)

So I shepherded the flock intended for slaughter, the afflicted of the flock.^[b] I took two staffs, calling one Favor⁽ⁱ⁾ and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.

In one month I got rid of three shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also detested me.

Then I said, "I will no longer shepherd you. Let what is dying die, and let what is going astray go astray; let the rest devour each other's flesh."

Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples.

It was annulled on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock^[c] who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord .

Then I said to them, "If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them." So they weighed my wages, 30 pieces of silver.^(j)

"Throw it to the potter,"^[d] the Lord said to me—this magnificent price I was valued by them. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw it into the house of the Lord , to the potter.^[e](k)

Then I cut in two my second staff, Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

The Lord also said to me: "Take the equipment of a foolish shepherd.

I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are going astray, and he will not seek the lost^[f] or heal the broken. He will not sustain the healthy,^[g] but he will devour the flesh of the fat sheep^(l) and tear off their hooves.

Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock!^(m) May a sword strike^[h] his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither away and his right eye go completely blind!"