Study Desk

"As for you also, Because of the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the waterless pit.

For I have bent Judah, My bow, Fitted the bow with Ephraim, And raised up your sons, O Zion, Against your sons, O Greece, And made you like the sword of a mighty man."

The LORD their God will save them in that day, As the flock of His people. For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, Lifted like a banner over His land--

17 For how great is its [fn] goodnessAnd how great its [fn] beauty!Grain shall make the young men thrive,And new wine the young women.

Ask the Lord for rainIn the time of the latter rain. [fn] The Lord will make flashing clouds;He will give them showers of rain,Grass in the field for everyone.

For the idols [fn] speak delusion;The diviners envision lies,And tell false dreams;They comfort in vain.Therefore the people wend their way like sheep;They are in trouble because there is no shepherd.

"My anger is kindled against the shepherds, And I will punish the goatherds. For the LORD of hosts will visit His flock, The house of Judah, And will make them as His royal horse in the battle.

"I will strengthen the house of Judah, And I will save the house of Joseph. I will bring them back, Because I have mercy on them. They shall be as though I had not cast them aside; For I am the LORD their God, And I will hear them.

I will whistle for them and gather them, For I will redeem them; And they shall increase as they once increased.

I will also bring them back from the land of Egypt, And gather them from Assyria. I will bring them into the land of Gilead and Lebanon, Until no more room is found for them.

Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, Because the mighty trees are ruined. Wail, O oaks of Bashan, For the thick forest has come down.

There is the sound of wailing shepherds!For their glory is in ruins.There is the sound of roaring lions!For the pride [fn] of the Jordan is in ruins.

Thus says the LORD my God, "Feed the flock for slaughter,

whose owners slaughter them and feel no guilt; those who sell them say, "Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich'; and their shepherds do not pity them.

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 attack the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand."

So I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. [fn] I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, 11:10">[fn] and the other I called Bonds; Zechariah 11:14">[fn] and I fed the flock.

Then I said to them, "If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain." So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

And the LORD said to me, "Throw it to the 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.

And the LORD said to me, "Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd.

For indeed I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will not care for those who are cut off, nor seek the young, nor heal those that are broken, nor feed those that still stand. But he will eat the flesh of the fat and tear their hooves in pieces.