1 OPEN thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
2 Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.
3 There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.
4 Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;
5 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.
6 For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
7 And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
8 Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
9 Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
10 And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
11 And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the Lord.
12 And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.
14 Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
16 For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.
17 Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

1Open thy doores, O Lebanon, that the fire may deuoure thy cedars.

2Howle firre tree, for the cedar is fallen; because all the mighty are spoiled; howle O yee okes of Bashan, for the forrest of the vintage is come downe.

3 There is a voyce of the howling of the shepheards; for their glory is spoiled: a voyce of the roaring of young lyons; for the pride of Iordan is spoiled.

4Thus saith the Lord my God; Feede the flocke of the slaughter;

5Whose possessours slay them, and hold themselues not guiltie: and they that sell thē say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich: and their owne shepheards pitie them not.

6For I will no more pitie the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord: but loe, I will deliuer the men euery one into his neighbours hand, and into the hand of his King, and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliuer them.

7And I will feede the flocke of slaughter, euen you, O poore of the flock: and I tooke vnto me two staues; the one I called Beautie, and the other I called Bandes, and I fed the flocke.

8Three shepheards also I cut off in one moneth, and my soule loathed them, and their soule also abhorred mee.

9Then said I, I will not feede you: that that dieth, let it die: and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off, and let the rest eate, euery one the flesh of another.

10 And I tooke my staffe, euen Beautie, and cut it asunder, that I might breake my couenant which I had made with all the people.

11And it was broken in that day: and so the poore of the flocke that waited vpon me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.

12And I said vnto them, If yee thinke good, giue me my price: and if not, forbeare: so they weighed for my price thirtie pieces of siluer.

13And the Lord said vnto mee, Cast it vnto the potter: a goodly price, that I was prised at of them. And I tooke the thirtie pieces of siluer, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord.

14Then I cut asunder mine other staffe, euen Bands, that I might break the brotherhood betweene Iudah and Israel.

15 And the Lord said vnto me, Take vnto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepheard.

16For loe, I wil raise vp a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that bee cut off, neither shall seeke the yong one, nor heale that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shal eate the flesh of the fat, and teare their clawes in pieces.

17Woe to the idoll shepheard that leaueth the flocke: the sword shall be vpon his arme, and vpon his right eye: his arme shall be cleane dryed vp, and his right eye shall be vtterly darkened.

I == Zech 10:10

II == Isa 32:19

 

 

 

 

 

IV == Zech 11:7

 

V == Deut 29:19 ; Jer 2:3 ; 50:7 ; Hos 12:8

 

 

 

 

 

 

VII == Zeph 3:12 ; 11:4 ; Matt 11:5

 

VIII == Hos 5:7

 

 

IX == Jer 15:2 ; 43:11

 

 

 

 

XI == Zeph 3:12 ; Zech 11:7

 

XII == Ex 21:32 ; Matt 26:15

 

XIII == Matt 27:9-10

 

 

 

 

 

XV == Ezek 34:2-4

 

 

 

 

 

XVII == Jer 23:1 ; Ezek 34:2 ; JOhn 10:12-13

 

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour your cedars!

2 Wail, you cypress trees, for the cedars are fallen, the mighty have been despoiled. Wail, you oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest is cut down!

3 Hark! the wailing of the shepherds, their glory has been ruined. Hark! the roaring of the young lions, the jungle of the Jordan is laid waste.

4 Thus said the LORD, my God: Shepherd the flock to be slaughtered.

5 For they who buy them slay them with impunity; while those who sell them say, "Blessed be the LORD, I have become rich!" Even their own shepherds do not feel for them.

6 (Nor shall I spare the inhabitants of the earth any more, says the LORD. Yes, I will deliver each of them into the power of his neighbor, or into the power of his king; they shall crush the earth, and I will not deliver it out of their power.)

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock to be slaughtered for the sheep merchants. I took two staffs, one of which I called "Favor," and the other, "Bonds," and I fed the flock.

8 In a single month I did away with the three shepherds. I wearied of them, and they behaved badly toward me.

9 "I will not feed you," I said. "What is to die, let it die; what is to perish, let it perish, and let those that are left devour one another's flesh."

10 Then I took my staff "Favor" and snapped it asunder, breaking off the covenant which I had made with all peoples;

11 that day it was broken off. The sheep merchants who were watching me understood that this was the word of the LORD.

12 I said to them, "If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, let it go." And they counted out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.

13 But the LORD said to me, "Throw it in the treasury, the handsome price at which they valued me." So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the LORD.

14 Then I snapped asunder my other staff, "Bonds," breaking off the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 The LORD said to me: This time take the gear of a foolish shepherd.

16 For I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will take no note of those that perish, nor seek the strays, nor heal the injured, nor feed what survives - he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hoofs!

17 Woe to my foolish shepherd who forsakes the flock! May the sword fall upon his arm and upon his right eye; Let his arm wither away entirely, and his right eye be blind forever!

v 1-3. Israel could not get the blessings of chapter 10 because they rejected the Messiah. Instead, their land would be wasted, probably by the Romans, 70 AD.

v 4-6. Israel is marked for slaughter by the Romans, because their own leaders had failed in their responsibilities to the people. God withheld His pity after they had declared, “We have no king but Caesar”, Jn. 19:15.

v 7. God would take care of the remnant. Zechariah’s shepherd staves translate to “Favor”, the benefits of 9:14-17, and “Union”, the national unity of Hosea 1:11.

v 8,9. Of the 40 interpretations of the three shepherds, I believe them to be the prophets, priests and rulers. God despised them as they had despised Christ, and would not be their shepherd, but allow foreign oppression and internal strife.

v 10,11. Zechariah broke the staff, Beauty, to show God’s disfavor upon Israel. This was pronounced by Christ, Matt. 21:43, although it did not happen until 70 AD, but a believing remnant recognized Christ as the Messiah when He was here.

v 12,13. Israel’s opinion of the worth of the Lord was their estimation of Christ’s value,  the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver. The insult was compounded by throwing this so called prize to a lowly potter. This was fulfilled in Judas’ betrayal of Christ, Matt. 26:14-16; 27:3-10. The Sanhedrin buying the potters field for burying the poor ties in with Jer. 19:11. Because of Judah’s sins, God permitted Rome to come in and destroy them by the thousands, and this fulfilled the prophecy of v 11, that there would be no place left to bury.

v 14. Zechariah broke the staff, Bands to illustrate the discord in Israel which contributed to the destruction by Rome, 70 AD and another world wide dispersion.

v 15-17. Zechariah was to take a staff etc. unsuitable for the task, and assume the character of a bad, foolish or wicked shepherd. After rejecting the True Shepherd, they will accept a foolish shepherd. This looks forward to the Anti Christ in the end times. He has no concern for the flock and will consume it for his own advantage, or destroy it. Instead, he will be destroyed after the True Shepherd returns, Rev. 19:19,20.