Woe to the Worthless Shepherd

1Open your doors, O Lebanon,

That a fire may consume your cedars.

2Wail, O [†]cypress, for the cedar has fallen,

Because the mighty trees have been destroyed;

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

For the [†]impenetrable forest has come down.

3There is a sound of the shepherds’ wail,

For their might is destroyed;

There is a sound of the young lions’ roar,

For the [†]pride of the Jordan is destroyed.

4Thus says Yahweh my God, “Shepherd the flock doomed to slaughter. 5Those who buy them slaughter them and are not held guilty, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be Yahweh. Indeed, I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds do not spare them. 6For I will no longer spare the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh; “but behold, I will cause the men to [†]fall, each into another’s hand and into the hand of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”

7So I shepherded the flock doomed to slaughter—[†]hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called [†]Favor, and the other I called [†]Union; so I shepherded the flock. 8Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also [†]was weary of me. 9Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to die, [†]let it die, and what is to be annihilated, [†]let it be annihilated; and [†]let those who remain consume one another’s flesh.” 10And I took my staff [†]Favor and cut it in pieces, to [†]break my covenant which I had cut with all the peoples. 11So it was [†]broken on that day, and [†]thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh. 12And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, [†]never mind!” So they weighed out thirty [†]shekels of silver as my wages. 13Then Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that valuable price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of Yahweh. 14Then I cut in pieces my second staff [†]Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a [†]foolish shepherd. 16For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will consume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

17Woe to the worthless shepherd

Who forsakes the flock!

A sword will be on his arm

And on his right eye!

His arm will be totally dried up,

And his right eye will be utterly dimmed.”