Study Desk

Open your doors, O Lebanon, That a ^(a)fire may feed on your ^(b)cedars.

Wail, O ^[a]cypress, for the cedar has fallen, Because the glorious trees have been destroyed; Wail, O oaks of Bashan, For the ^[b]impenetrable forest has come down.

There is a sound of the shepherds' ^(c)wail, For their glory is ruined; There is a ^(d)sound of the young lions' roar, For the ^[c]pride of the Jordan is ruined.

Thus says the Lord my God, "Pasture the flock doomed to ^(e)slaughter.

Those who buy them slay them and ^[d]go ^(f)unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord , for ^(g)I have become rich!' And their ^(h)own shepherds have no pity on them.

For I will ⁽ⁱ⁾no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land," declares the Lord ; "but behold, I will ^(j)cause the men to ^[e]fall, each into another's ^[f]power and into the ^[g]power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will ^(k)not deliver them from their ^[h]power."

So I ^(l)pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, ^[i]hence the ^(m)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ⁽ⁿ⁾staffs: the one I called ^[j](o)Favor and the other I called ^[k](p)Union; so I pastured the flock.

Then I annihilated the three shepherds in ^(q)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ^[l]was weary of me.

Then I said, "I will not pasture you. What is to ^(r)die, ^[m]let it die, and what is to be annihilated, ^[n]let it be annihilated; and ^[o]let those who are left eat one another's flesh."

I took my staff ^[p](s)Favor and cut it in pieces, to ^[q](t)break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

So it was ^[r]broken on that day, and ^[s]thus the ^(u)afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord .

I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my ^(v)wages; but if not, ^[t]never mind!" So they weighed out ^(w)thirty shekels of silver as my wages.

Then the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the ^(x)potter, that magnificent 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 the Lord .

Then I cut in pieces my second staff ^[u](y)Union, to ^(z)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

The Lord said to me, "Take again for yourself the equipment of a ^[v](aa)foolish shepherd.

For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will ^(ab)not care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will ^(ac)devour the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

"^(ad)Woe to the worthless shepherd Who leaves the flock! A ^(ae)sword will be on his arm And on his right eye! His ^(af)arm will be totally withered And his right eye will be ^[w]blind."