Woe to the Worthless Shepherd
Open your doors, O Lebanon,
That a afire may consume your bcedars.
2 Wail, 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.
3 There is a sound of the shepherds’ awail,
For their might is destroyed;
There is a bsound of the young lions’ roar,
For the pride of the Jordan is destroyed.
4 Thus says Yahweh my God, “Shepherd the flock doomed to aslaughter. 5 Those who buy them slaughter them and are not aheld guilty, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be Yahweh. Indeed, bI have become rich!’ And their cown shepherds do not spare them. 6 For I will ano longer spare the inhabitants of the land,” declares Yahweh; “but behold, I will bcause 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 cnot deliver them from their hand.”
7 So I ashepherded the flock doomed to slaughter—hence the bafflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two cstaffs: the one I called dFavor, and the other I called eUnion; so I shepherded the flock. 8 Then I annihilated the three shepherds in aone month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me. 9 Then I said, “I will not shepherd you. What is to adie, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who remain consume one another’s flesh.” 10 And I took my staff aFavor and cut it in pieces, to bbreak my covenant which I had cut with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day, and thus the aafflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh. 12 And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my awages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out bthirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the apotter, 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. 14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff aUnion, to bbreak the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 Then Yahweh said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a afoolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will anot care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will bconsume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.
17 aWoe to the worthless shepherd
Who forsakes the flock!
A bsword will be on his arm
And on his right eye!
His carm will be totally dried up,
And his right eye will be utterly dimmed.”