Zechariah 11

²³O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”

⁶For this is what the Lord says concerning the house of the king of Judah: “You are like Gilead to Me, like the summit of Lebanon; but I will surely turn you into a desert, like cities that are uninhabited.

⁷I will appoint destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut down the choicest of your cedars and throw them into the fire.

²³How miserable those days will be for pregnant and nursing mothers! For there will be great distress upon the land and wrath against this people.

²⁴They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive into all the nations. And Jerusalem will be trodden down by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

²²For a fire has been kindled by My anger, and it burns to the depths of Sheol; it consumes the earth and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.

⁸Because you have plundered many nations, the remnant of the people will plunder you—because of your bloodshed against man and your violence against the land, the city, and all their dwellers.

⁸Go up into the hills, bring down lumber, and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified, says the Lord.

³¹For if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?”

⁴⁶“Son of man, set your face toward the south, preach against it, and prophesy against the forest of the Negev.

¹⁵until the Spirit is poured out upon us from on high. Then the desert will be an orchard, and the orchard will seem like a forest.

¹⁶Then justice will inhabit the wilderness, and righteousness will dwell in the fertile field.

¹²For the Day of the Lord of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—

¹³against all the cedars of Lebanon, lofty and lifted up, against all the oaks of Bashan,

⁸Are you better than Thebes, stationed by the Nile with water around her, whose rampart was the sea, whose wall was the water?

⁹Cush and Egypt were her boundless strength; Put and Libya were her allies.

²“Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his multitude: ‘Who can be compared to your greatness?

³Look at Assyria, a cedar in Lebanon, with beautiful branches that shaded the forest. It towered on high; its top was among the clouds.

⁴⁴Behold, one will come up like a lion from the thickets of the Jordan to the watered pasture. For in an instant I will chase Babylon from her land. Who is the chosen one I will appoint for this? For who is like Me, and who can challenge Me? What shepherd can stand against Me?”

³⁴Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter have come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.

³⁵Flight will evade the shepherds, and escape will elude the leaders of the flock.

²¹And she named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The glory has departed from Israel,” because the ark of God had been captured and her father-in-law and her husband had been killed.

²²“The glory has departed from Israel,” she said, “for the ark of God has been captured.”

⁶then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’”

⁵The people of Samaria will fear for the calf of Beth-aven. Indeed, its people will mourn over it with its idolatrous priests—those who rejoiced in its glory—for it has been taken from them into exile.

¹¹Then they prompted some men to say, “We heard Stephen speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God.”

¹²So they stirred up the people, elders, and scribes and confronted Stephen. They seized him and brought him before the Sanhedrin,

⁷So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.

³⁷O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those sent to her, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were unwilling!

⁸For I tell you that Christ has become a servant of the circumcised on behalf of God’s truth, to confirm the promises made to the patriarchs,

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms.

⁴But I said, “I have labored in vain, I have spent My strength in futility and vanity; yet My vindication is with the Lord, and My reward is with My God.”

⁵And now says the Lord, who formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, to bring Jacob back to Him, that Israel might be gathered to Him—for I am honored in the sight of the Lord, and My God is My strength—

⁴He will stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majestic name of the Lord His God. And they will dwell securely, for then His greatness will extend to the ends of the earth.

⁷All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the Lord, their true pasture, the Lord, the hope of their fathers.’

⁵and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.

⁶Of course, godliness with contentment is great gain.

⁸And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”

¹⁸Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?

¹⁹Why must My flock feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied?’

⁸and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.

¹⁰This is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand from them My flock and remove them from tending the flock, so that they can no longer feed themselves. For I will deliver My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’

¹⁴I will smash them against one another, fathers and sons alike, declares the Lord. I will allow no mercy or pity or compassion to keep Me from destroying them.’”

²⁶If we deliberately go on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no further sacrifice for sins remains,

²⁷but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume all adversaries.

⁷The king was enraged, and he sent his troops to destroy those murderers and burn their city.

¹⁹By the wrath of the Lord of Hosts the land is scorched, and the people are fuel for the fire. No man even spares his brother.

²⁰They carve out what is on the right, but they are still hungry; they eat what is on the left, but they are still not satisfied. Each one devours the flesh of his own offspring.

⁸Then the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which tramples and tears as it passes through, with no one to rescue them.

²²Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:

¹⁴Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

⁴but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the wicked with the breath of His lips.

⁴This is what the Lord my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,

¹⁶“And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’

¹⁷Then join them together into one stick, so that they become one in your hand.

¹⁰Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.

¹¹It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord.

⁴Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

¹⁸If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.

⁷The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.

³⁴Because of this, I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and others you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.

³⁵And so upon you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

⁷Thus says the Lord, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes will bow down, because of the Lord, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen You.”

⁷They have been unfaithful to the Lord; for they have borne illegitimate children. Now the New Moon will devour them along with their land.

²³Whoever hates Me hates My Father as well.

²⁴If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin; but now they have seen and hated both Me and My Father.

¹¹Let the unrighteous continue to be unrighteous, and the vile continue to be vile; let the righteous continue to practice righteousness, and the holy continue to be holy.”

¹⁰Then the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why do You speak to the people in parables?”

¹¹He replied, “The knowledge of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them.

¹¹He will come and strike down the land of Egypt, bringing death to those destined for death, captivity to those destined for captivity, and the sword to those destined for the sword.

³⁵Then Jesus told them, “For a little while longer, the Light will be among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.

²⁴That is why I told you that you would die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

⁹I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh in the siege and distress inflicted on them by their enemies who seek their lives.’

⁷So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.

³⁹You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and sullied his crown in the dust.

⁸But God found fault with the people and said: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

⁹It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, because they did not abide by My covenant, and I disregarded them, declares the Lord.

²¹For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not disgrace Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it.

³¹Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

³²It will not be like the covenant I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord.

³⁰Therefore, the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I did indeed say that your house and the house of your father would walk before Me forever. But now the Lord declares: Far be it from Me! For I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disdained.

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?

⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

²⁵The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.

²⁶It is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

¹²But I will leave within you a meek and humble people, and they will trust in the name of the Lord.

³¹But those who wait upon the Lord will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.

³⁸Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the Child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

²¹And when many troubles and afflictions have come upon them, this song will testify against them, because it will not be forgotten from the lips of their descendants. For I know their inclination, even before I bring them into the land that I swore to give them.”

¹⁵and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I hand Him over to you?” And they set out for him thirty pieces of silver.

³²If the ox gores a manservant or maidservant, the owner must pay thirty shekels of silver to the master of that servant, and the ox must be stoned.

³Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve.

⁴And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them.

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them.

¹¹They were delighted to hear this, and they promised to give him money. So Judas began to look for an opportunity to betray Jesus.

²⁷And when Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

²⁸But no one at the table knew why Jesus had said this to him.

²⁸So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

³When Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was filled with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders.

⁴“I have sinned by betraying innocent blood,” he said. “What is that to us?” they replied. “You bear the responsibility.”

¹⁸(Now with the reward for his wickedness Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong and burst open in the middle, and all his intestines spilled out.

¹⁹This became known to all who lived in Jerusalem, so they called that field in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

²He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him.

³He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.

¹²And when He was accused by the chief priests and elders, He gave no answer.

¹¹This Jesus is ‘the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.’

⁷“For a brief moment I forsook you, but with great compassion I will bring you back.

⁸In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the Lord your Redeemer.

¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice.

²¹Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh; together they turn against Judah. Despite all this, His anger is not turned away; His hand is still upraised.

¹⁴But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth.

¹⁶“And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the stick of Ephraim—and to all the house of Israel associated with him.’

¹⁷Then join them together into one stick, so that they become one in your hand.

⁷As soon as he had said this, a dispute broke out between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided.

⁸For the Sadducees say that there is neither a resurrection nor angels nor spirits, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.

⁷So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.

³This is what the Lord God says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit yet have seen nothing.

¹⁴The visions of your prophets were empty and deceptive; they did not expose your guilt to ward off your captivity. The burdens they envisioned for you were empty and misleading.

²⁶As the thief is ashamed when he is caught, so the house of Israel is disgraced. They, their kings, their officials, their priests, and their prophets

²⁷say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Yet in the time of trouble, they say, ‘Rise up and save us!’

¹⁰Make the hearts of this people calloused; deafen their ears and close their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”

¹¹Then I asked: “How long, O Lord?” And He replied: “Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left unoccupied and the land is desolate and ravaged,

¹⁷You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes it sacred?

⁴⁰You fools! Did not the One who made the outside make the inside as well?

¹²The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.

¹³The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep.

²Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the Lord.

²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?

³You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.

¹“Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever does not enter the sheepfold by the gate, but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber.

¹³Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.

¹⁴

⁴⁵But suppose that servant says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and he begins to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk.

⁴⁶The master of that servant will come on a day he does not expect and at an hour he does not anticipate. Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.

¹“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the Lord.

³This is what the Lord God says: Woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit yet have seen nothing.

²“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?

⁴So about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world, and that there is no God but one.

¹⁹Who is blind but My servant, or deaf like the messenger I am sending? Who is blind like My covenant partner, or blind like the servant of the Lord?

²⁰Though seeing many things, you do not keep watch. Though your ears are open, you do not hear.”

¹⁶Woe to you, blind guides! You say, ‘If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.’