Zechariah 11:4

New American Standard Bible (1995)

Thus says the LORD my God, "Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock intended for slaughter.

Hebrew Names Version
Thus says the LORD my God: "Feed the flock of slaughter.

King James Version (1611)
Thus saith the Lord my God; Feede the flocke of the slaughter;

King James Version
Thus saith the Lord my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

English Standard Version
Thus said the Lord my God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.

New American Standard Bible
This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter.

New Century Version
This is what the Lord my God says: "Feed the flock that are about to be killed.

Amplified Bible
Thus says the LORD my God, "Pasture the flock doomed for slaughter,

Geneva Bible (1587)
Thus sayeth the Lorde my God, Feede the sheepe of the slaughter.

Legacy Standard Bible
Thus says Yahweh my God, "Shepherd the flock doomed to slaughter.

Berean Standard Bible
This is what the LORD my God says: "Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,

Contemporary English Version
The Lord my God said to me: Tend those sheep doomed for slaughter!

Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai my God says this: "Shepherd the flock for slaughter.

Darby Translation
Thus saith Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter,

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord my God says, "Care for the sheep that have been raised to be killed.

George Lamsa Translation
Thus says the LORD my God: Feed the lean flock

Good News Translation
The Lord my God said to me, "Act the part of the shepherd of a flock of sheep that are going to be butchered.

Lexham English Bible
Thus says Yahweh my God: "Shepherd the flock doomed to slaughter.

Literal Translation
For so says Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter.

American Standard Version
Thus said Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter;

Bible in Basic English
This is what the Lord my God has said: Take care of the flock of death;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Thus said the LORD my God: 'Feed the flock of slaughter;

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thus saith the Lorde my God: Feede the sheepe of the slaughter,

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Thus saith the Lord Almighty, Feed the sheep of the slaughter;

English Revised Version
Thus said the LORD my God: Feed the flock of slaughter;

World English Bible
Thus says Yahweh my God: "Feed the flock of slaughter.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
My Lord God seith these thingis, Fede thou beestis of slauyter,

Update Bible Version
Thus Yahweh my God said: Feed the flock of slaughter;

Webster's Bible Translation
Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

New English Translation
The Lord my God says this: "Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter.

New King James Version
Thus says the LORD my God, "Feed the flock for slaughter,

New Living Translation
This is what the Lord my God says: "Go and care for the flock that is intended for slaughter.

New Life Bible
The Lord my God said, "Take care of the flock that is to be killed.

New Revised Standard
Thus said the Lord my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thus, saith Yahweh my God, - Tend thou the flock doomed to slaughter:

Douay-Rheims Bible
Thus saith the Lord my God: Feed the flock of the slaughter,

Revised Standard Version
Thus said the LORD my God: "Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.

Young's Literal Translation
Thus said Jehovah my God: `Feed the flock of the slaughter,

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus sayeth the LORDE my God: Fede the shepe of ye slaughter,

Contextual Overview

⁴ Thus says the LORD my God, "Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter.⁵ "Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, 'Blessed be the LORD, for I have become rich!' And their own shepherds have no pity on them. ⁶ "For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land," declares the LORD; "but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into another's power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver them from their power." ⁷ So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock. ⁸ Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me. ⁹ Then I said, "I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who are left eat one another's flesh." ¹⁰ I took my staff Favor and cut it in pieces, to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. ¹¹ So it was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the LORD. ¹² I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!" So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. ¹³ Then the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the 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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Lord: Zechariah 14:5, Isaiah 49:4, Isaiah 49:5, John 20:17, Ephesians 1:3

Feed: Zechariah 11:7, Isaiah 40:9-11, Ezekiel 34:23, Ezekiel 34:24, Micah 5:4, Matthew 15:24, Matthew 23:37, Luke 19:41-44, John 21:15-17, Romans 15:8

Reciprocal: Psalms 78:71 - feed Jeremiah 50:6 - their shepherds Micah 3:2 - pluck Zechariah 13:7 - my shepherd John 10:1 - the same John 10:8 - came Acts 20:28 - to feed

Cross-References

Genesis 6:4
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Genesis 11:8
So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city.

Genesis 11:9
Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of the whole earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of the whole earth.

Genesis 11:11
and Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and he had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 11:13
and Arpachshad lived four hundred and three years after he became the father of Shelah, and he had other sons and daughters.

Deuteronomy 1:28
'Where can we go up? Our brethren have made our hearts melt, saying, "The people are bigger and taller than we; the cities are large and fortified to heaven. And besides, we saw the sons of the Anakim there."'

Deuteronomy 4:27
"The LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the LORD drives you.

Deuteronomy 9:1
"Hear, O Israel! You are crossing over the Jordan today to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, great cities fortified to heaven,

2 Samuel 8:13
So David made a name for himself when he returned from killing 18,000 Arameans in the Valley of Salt.

Psalms 92:9
For, behold, Your enemies, O Lord , For, behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will be scattered.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord my God,.... The Syriac version adds, "to me"; not the Prophet Zechariah, but the Messiah, who calls the Lord his God, as he was man and Mediator, John 20:17 for what follow are the words of God the Father to him, calling upon him, and giving him a commission to

Feed the flock of the slaughter; meaning the people of the Jews in general, to whom Christ was sent as a prophet, to teach and instruct them by the ministry of the word; so "feeding" is interpreted of prophesying, by the Targum and Jarchi: and these are called "the flock of slaughter", because of the cruel usage they met with from their shepherds and owners, mentioned in the next verse Zechariah 11:5; and because they were appointed and given up to ruin and destruction of God, on account of their sins and transgressions; though there was a remnant among them, a little flock, afterwards in this chapter called the poor of the flock Zechariah 11:7, who were the special care of Christ, and were fed by him in a spiritual manner; and may go by this name, because exposed to the cruelties of men, and are accounted as sheep for the slaughter, Romans 8:36 these Christ was called upon by his Father in the council of peace to take care of, which he did; and in the everlasting covenant of grace he agreed to feed them; and in the fulness of time he was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, who were as sheep without a shepherd; and he fed them with knowledge and with understanding.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Thus saith the Lord my God, Feed the flock of the slaughter - The fulfillment of the whole prophecy shows, that the person addressed is the prophet, not in, or for himself, but (as belongs to symbolic prophecy) as representing Another, our Lord. It is addressed, in the first instance, to Zechariah. For Zechariah is bidden, “take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd” Zechariah 11:15, in words addressed to himself, personally; “And the Lord said unto me.” But he who was to represent the foolish shepherd, had represented the True Shepherd, since it is said to him, “Take unto thee yet.” But He, the Shepherd addressed, who does the acts commanded, speaks with the authority of God. He says, “I cut off three shepherds in one month” Zechariah 11:8; “I broke My covenant which I had made with all the peoples” Zechariah 11:10; “the poor of the flock waited upon Me” Zechariah 11:11; “I cut asunder Mine other staff, Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel” Zechariah 11:14. But in Zechariah’s time, no three shepherds were cut off, the covenant made by God was not broken on His part, there was no such visible distinction between those who waited on God, and those who, outwardly too, rejected Him.

Feed the flock of the slaughter - Those who were, even before the end, slain by their evil shepherds whom they followed, and who in the end would be given to the slaughter, as the Psalmist says, “we are counted as sheep for the slaughter” Psalms 44:22, because they would not hear the voice of the True Shepherd, and were not His sheep. They were already, by God’s judgment, a prey to evil shepherds; and would be so yet more hereafter. As a whole then, they were “sheep of the slaughter.” It is a last Charge given to feed them. As our Lord says, “Last of all, He sent unto them His Son, saying, They will reverence My Son” Matthew 21:37. This failing, nothing remained but that the flock would be given up, as they themselves say, “He will miserably destroy those wicked people, and will let out His vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render Him the fruits in their seasons” Matthew 21:41, that is, our Lord explains it, “The kingdom of heaven shall be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. Yet a remnant should be saved” Matthew 21:43, for whose sake the larger flock was still to be fed: and, as our Lord, as Man, wept over Jerusalem, whose sentence He pronounced, so He still feeds those who would not turn to Him that they might be saved, and who would in the end be “a flock of slaughter,” “Death their shepherd” Psalms 49:14, since they chose death rather than Life.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 11:4. Feed the flock of the slaughter — This people resemble a flock of sheep fattened for the shambles; feed, instruct, this people who are about to be slaughtered.