1 Open your gateways, Lebanon, to let fire devour your cedars.
2 Lament, cypresses, for the cedar has fallen. The majestic ones have been
brought low. Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has been cut
down.
3 The sighs of the shepherds reecho because their beautiful plain has been
ravaged. The young lions¡¯ roar reechoes because the fruitful valley of the
Jordan is laid waste.
The example of the good shepherd
4 Yahweh, my God, said to me: ¡°Pasture the sheep to be slaughtered,
5 for their buyers slay them and get away with it, whereas those who sell
them say: ¡®Praised be Yahweh! I am rich!¡¯ And their shepherds hardly give
them a thought.
6 Yahweh says: I shall no longer give a thought to the inhabitants of this
land, and I am handing over each one to the power of his shepherd; although
their king may oppress the land, I shall not rescue this people from their
power.¡±
7 So I became the shepherd of the sheep to be slaughtered and provided
myself with two staffs ¨C one I called Favor and the other Bonds. I then
pastured my flock,
8 doing away with three leaders in one month. I lost patience with them and
they, for their part, were disgusted with me.
9 So I said, ¡°No longer shall I shepherd you: whatever is to die, let it die
and let what is to perish, perish, and let those who are left devour each
other¡¯s flesh.¡±
10 Then I took and broke my staff Favor to break the covenant I had made
with all nations.
11 It was broken off that day and the sheep merchants who watched knew it
was Yahweh who had spoken.
12 I then said to them, ¡°If you agree, give me my wages, otherwise let it
go.¡± So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
13 And Yahweh said to me, ¡°Throw it into the treasury, this splendid sum at
which they valued me!¡± So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them
into the treasury in Yahweh¡¯s House.
14 I then snapped in two my second staff Bonds, doing away with the
friendship between Judah and Israel.
15 Then Yahweh said to me, ¡°Take another disguise, one that is fitting for a
foolish shepherd
16 for I am going to raise up another shepherd who will care nothing for
lost sheep nor will he search for strays, or bind up the injured and pasture
those that survive. No, but he will eat the fat ones and tear off their
hoofs.¡±
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons his flock! May the sword
strike his arm and his right eye! Let his arm wither and his right eye be
blind!
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Comments Zechariah, Chapter 11
• 11.4 This is a parable. The prophet plays the role of Yahweh himself. It
seems to mean the fol lowing: Because the people did not want to be led by
Yahweh, Yahweh will deliver them to evil shepherds who will take advantage
of them. Yahweh is dismissed for thirty pieces of silver. A mys terious
gesture which the Gospel will recall in dealing with Judas¡¯ betrayal (see Mt
27:10). Elsewhere in the Bible God threatens the evil rulers. Here he
reproaches the people, who now have the shepherds they deserve.