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Woe to the Worthless Shepherd

¹ Open your doors, O Lebanon,
That a ^(C1)fire may consume your ^(C2)cedars.

² Wail, O ^(F1)cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
Because the mighty trees have been destroyed;
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
For the ^(F2)impenetrable forest has come down.

³ There is a sound of the shepherds' ^(C1)wail,
For their might is destroyed;
There is a ^(C2)sound of the young lions' roar,
For the ^(F1)pride of the Jordan is destroyed.

⁴ Thus says Yahweh my God, "Shepherd the flock doomed to ^(C1)slaughter.⁵ "Those who buy them slaughter them and are not ^(C1)held guilty, and each of those who sell them says, 'Blessed be Yahweh. Indeed, ^(C2)I have become rich!' And their ^(C3)own shepherds do not spare them.⁶ "For I will ^(C1)no longer spare the inhabitants of the land," declares Yahweh; "but behold, I will ^(C2)cause the men to ^(F1)fall, each into another's hand and into the hand of his king; and they will crush the land, and I will ^(C3)not deliver them from their hand."

⁷ So I ^(C1)shepherded the flock doomed to slaughter—^(F1)hence the ^(C2)afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two ^(C3)staffs: the one I called ^(F2)(C4)Favor, and the other I called ^(F3)(C5)Union; so I shepherded the flock.⁸ Then I annihilated the three shepherds in ^(C1)one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also ^(F1)was weary of me.⁹ Then I said, "I will not shepherd you. What is to ^(C1)die, ^(F1)let it die, and what is to be annihilated, ^(F2)let it be annihilated; and ^(F3)let those who remain consume one another's flesh."¹⁰ And I took my staff ^(F1)(C1)Favor and cut it in pieces, to ^(F2)(C2)break my covenant which I had cut with all the peoples.¹¹ So it was ^(F1)broken on that day, and ^(F2)thus the ^(C1)afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of Yahweh.¹² And I said to them, "If it is good in your sight, give me my ^(C1)wages; but if not, ^(F1)never mind!" So they weighed out ^(C2)thirty ^(F2)shekels of silver as my wages.¹³ Then Yahweh said to me, "Throw it to the ^(C1)potter, that valuable 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 Yahweh.¹⁴ Then I cut in pieces my second staff ^(F1)(C1)Union, to ^(C2)break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then Yahweh said to me, "Take again for yourself the equipment of a ^(F1)(C1)foolish shepherd.¹⁶ "For behold, I am going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will ^(C1)not care for those who face annihilation, seek the young, heal the broken, or sustain the one standing, but will ^(C2)consume the flesh of the fat sheep and tear off their hoofs.

¹⁷ "^(C1)Woe to the worthless shepherd
Who forsakes the flock!
A ^(C2)sword will be on his arm
And on his right eye!
His ^(C3)arm will be totally dried up,
And his right eye will be utterly dimmed."