Zechariah 11:4-14

New King James Version

Prophecy of the Shepherds

⁴ Thus says the Lord my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter, ⁵ whose owners slaughter them and ^(A)feel no guilt; those who sell them ^(B)say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I am rich’; and their shepherds do ^(C)not pity them. ⁶ For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land,” says the Lord. “But indeed I will give everyone into his neighbor’s hand and into the hand of his king. They shall ^[a]attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.”

⁷ So I fed the flock for slaughter, ^[b]in particular ^(D)the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called ^[c]Beauty, and the other I called ^[d]Bonds; and I fed the flock. ⁸ I ^[e]dismissed the three shepherds ^(E)in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me. ⁹ Then I said, “I will not feed you. ^(F)Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.” ¹⁰ And I took my staff, ^[f]Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was broken on that day. Thus ^(G)the^[g] poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. ¹² Then I said to them, “If it is ^[h]agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.” So they ^(H)weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ And the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the ^(I)potter”—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord for the potter. ¹⁴ Then I cut in two my other staff, ^[i]Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.