Zechariah 11:3

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Listen to the wail of the shepherds,for their glory is destroyed.Listen to the roar of young lions,for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

Hebrew Names Version
A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Yarden is ruined.

King James Version (1611)
There is a voyce of the howling of the shepheards; for their glory is spoiled: a voyce of the roaring of young lyons; for the pride of Iordan is spoiled.

King James Version
There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

English Standard Version
The sound of the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is ruined! The sound of the roar of the lions, for the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

New American Standard Bible
There is a sound of the shepherds' wail, For their splendor is ruined; There is a sound of the young lions' roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

New Century Version
Listen to the shepherds crying because their rich pastures are destroyed. Listen to the lions roaring because the lovely land of the Jordan River is ruined.

Amplified Bible
There is a sound of the shepherds' wail, For their splendor (grazing land) is ruined; There is a sound of the young lions' roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

Geneva Bible (1587)
There is the voyce of the houling of the shepherdes: for their glorie is destroyed: the voyce of ye roaring of lyons whelpes: for the pride of Iorden is destroyed.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
There is a sound of the shepherds' wail, For their glory is ruined; There is a sound of the young lions' roar, For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

Legacy Standard Bible
There is a sound of the shepherds' wail,For their might is destroyed;There is a sound of the young lions' roar,For the pride of the Jordan is destroyed.

Berean Standard Bible
Listen to the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is in ruins. Listen to the howl of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.

Contemporary English Version
Listen! Shepherds are crying. Their glorious pastures have been ruined. Listen! Lions are roaring. The forests of the Jordan Valley are no more to be found.

Complete Jewish Bible
Listen to the wail of the shepherds, because their glory is spoiled. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the Yarden's thickets are plundered.

Darby Translation
A voice of howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

Easy-to-Read Version
Listen to the crying shepherds. Their powerful leaders were taken away. Listen to the roaring of the young lions. Their thick bushes near the Jordan River have all been taken away.

George Lamsa Translation
There is a voice of the howling of shepherds; for their glory is ruined; a voice of the roaring of the lions; because the forest of Jordan is spoiled.

Good News Translation
The rulers cry out in grief; their glory is gone! Listen to the roaring of the lions; their forest home along the Jordan is destroyed!

Lexham English Bible
Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their splendor is ruined! Listen to the roar of the young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are ruined!

Literal Translation
A voice of the wailing of the shepherds is heard , for their splendor is destroyed. A voice of the roaring of young lions is heard , for the pride of Jordan is destroyed.

American Standard Version
A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste.

Bible in Basic English
The sound of the crying of the keepers of the flock! for their glory is made waste: the sound of the loud crying of the young lions! for the pride of Jordan is made waste.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Hark! the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled; Hark! the roaring of young lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are spoiled.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Men may heare the shepheardes mourne, for their glory is destroyed: men may heare the lions whelpes roare, for the pride of Iordane is wasted away.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
There is a voice of the shepherds mourning; for their greatness is brought low: a voice of roaring lions; for the pride of Jordan is brought down.

English Revised Version
A voice of the howling of the shepherds! for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

World English Bible
A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! For their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! For the pride of the Jordan is ruined.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Vois of yellyng of schepherdis, for the greet worschip of hem is distried; vois of roryng of liouns, for the pride of Jordan is wastid.

Update Bible Version
A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste.

Webster's Bible Translation
[There is] a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is laid waste.

New English Translation
Listen to the howling of shepherds, because their magnificence has been destroyed. Listen to the roaring of young lions, because the thickets of the Jordan have been devastated.

New King James Version
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.

New Living Translation
Listen to the wailing of the shepherds, for their rich pastures are destroyed. Hear the young lions roaring, for their thickets in the Jordan Valley are ruined.

New Life Bible
Listen to the cry of the shepherds, for their great land is laid waste. Listen to the sound of the young lions, for the trees along the valley of the Jordan River lay waste.

New Revised Standard
Listen, the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is despoiled! Listen, the roar of the lions, for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed!

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The noise of the howling of the shepherds, for spoiled is their majesty, - The noise of the roaring of the young lions, for spoiled are the proud banks of the Jordan.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The voice of the howling of the shepherds, because their glory is laid waste: the voice of the roaring of the lions, because the pride of the Jordan is spoiled.

Revised Standard Version
Hark, the wail of the shepherds, for their glory is despoiled! Hark, the roar of the lions, for the jungle of the Jordan is laid waste!

Young's Literal Translation
A voice of the howling of the shepherds! For destroyed was their robe of honour, A voice of the roaring of young lions! For destroyed was the excellency of Jordan.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Men maye heare the shepherdes mourne, for their glory is destroyed. Me maye heare the lyons whelpes roare, for the pryde off Iordane is waisted awaye.

Contextual Overview

¹Open your borders to the immigrants, proud Lebanon! Your sentinel trees will burn. Weep, great pine trees! Mourn, you sister cedars! Your towering trees are cordwood. Weep Bashan oak trees! Your thick forest is now a field of stumps. Do you hear the wailing of shepherds? They've lost everything they once owned. Do you hear the outrage of the lions? The mighty jungle of the Jordan is wasted. Make room for the returning exiles! God commanded me, "Shepherd the sheep that are soon to be slaughtered. The people who buy them will butcher them for quick and easy money. What's worse, they'll get away with it. The people who sell them will say, ‘Lucky me! God's on my side; I've got it made!' They have shepherds who couldn't care less about them." God 's Decree: "I'm washing my hands of the people of this land. From now on they're all on their own. It's dog-eat-dog, survival of the fittest, and the devil take the hindmost. Don't look for help from me." So I took over from the crass, money-grubbing owners, and shepherded the sheep marked for slaughter. I got myself two shepherd staffs. I named one Lovely and the other Harmony. Then I went to work shepherding the sheep. Within a month I got rid of the corrupt shepherds. I got tired of putting up with them—and they couldn't stand me. And then I got tired of the sheep and said, "I've had it with you—no more shepherding from me. If you die, you die; if you're attacked, you're attacked. Whoever survives can eat what's left." Then I took the staff named Lovely and broke it across my knee, breaking the beautiful covenant I had made with all the peoples. In one stroke, both staff and covenant were broken. The money-hungry owners saw me do it and knew God was behind it. Then I addressed them: "Pay me what you think I'm worth." They paid me an insulting sum, counting out thirty silver coins. God told me, "Throw it in the poor box." This stingy wage was all they thought of me and my work! So I took the thirty silver coins and threw them into the poor box in God 's Temple. Then I broke the other staff, Harmony, across my knee, breaking the concord between Judah and Israel. God then said, "Dress up like a stupid shepherd. I'm going to install just such a shepherd in this land—a shepherd indifferent to victims, who ignores the lost, abandons the injured, and disdains decent citizens. He'll only be in it for what he can get out of it, using and abusing any and all. "Doom to you, useless shepherd, walking off and leaving the sheep! A curse on your arm! A curse on your right eye! Your arm will hang limp and useless. Your right eye will go stone blind."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a voice: Zechariah 11:8, Zechariah 11:15-17, Jeremiah 25:34-36, Joel 1:13, Amos 8:8, Zephaniah 1:10, Matthew 15:14, Matthew 23:13-33, James 5:1-6

for their: 1 Samuel 4:21, 1 Samuel 4:22, Isaiah 65:15, Jeremiah 7:4, Jeremiah 7:11-14, Jeremiah 26:6, Ezekiel 24:21-25, Hosea 1:9, Hosea 1:10, Hosea 10:5, Zephaniah 3:11, Matthew 3:7-10, Matthew 21:43-45, Acts 6:11-14, Acts 22:21, Acts 22:22, Romans 11:7-12

a voice: Psalms 22:21, Jeremiah 2:30, Ezekiel 19:3-6, Zephaniah 3:3, Matthew 23:31-38, Acts 7:52

for the pride: Jeremiah 49:19, Jeremiah 50:44

Reciprocal: Psalms 10:9 - secretly Isaiah 5:29 - roaring Jeremiah 51:38 - roar Ezekiel 19:2 - young lions Ezekiel 30:9 - great Ezekiel 38:13 - with Zephaniah 1:11 - Howl John 10:2 - the shepherd 1 Peter 5:8 - as Revelation 18:9 - shall bewail

Cross-References

Genesis 11:4
Then they said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city and a tower that reaches Heaven. Let's make ourselves famous so we won't be scattered here and there across the Earth."

Genesis 11:6
God took one look and said, "One people, one language; why, this is only a first step. No telling what they'll come up with next—they'll stop at nothing! Come, we'll go down and garble their speech so they won't understand each other." Then God scattered them from there all over the world. And they had to quit building the city. That's how it came to be called Babel, because there God turned their language into "babble." From there God scattered them all over the world.

Genesis 11:18
When Peleg was thirty years old, he had Reu. After he had Reu, he lived 209 more years and had other sons and daughters.

Genesis 14:10
The Valley of Siddim was full of tar pits. When the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, they fell into the tar pits, but the rest escaped into the mountains. The four kings captured all the possessions of Sodom and Gomorrah, all their food and equipment, and went on their way. They captured Lot, Abram's nephew who was living in Sodom at the time, taking everything he owned with them.

2 Samuel 12:31
David emptied the city of its people and put them to slave labor using saws, picks, and axes, and making bricks. He did this to all the Ammonite cities. Then David and the whole army returned to Jerusalem.

Ecclesiastes 2:1
I said to myself, "Let's go for it—experiment with pleasure, have a good time!" But there was nothing to it, nothing but smoke. What do I think of the fun-filled life? Insane! Inane! My verdict on the pursuit of happiness? Who needs it? With the help of a bottle of wine and all the wisdom I could muster, I tried my level best to penetrate the absurdity of life. I wanted to get a handle on anything useful we mortals might do during the years we spend on this earth.

Isaiah 5:5
"Well now, let me tell you what I'll do to my vineyard: I'll tear down its fence and let it go to ruin. I'll knock down the gate and let it be trampled. I'll turn it into a patch of weeds, untended, uncared for— thistles and thorns will take over. I'll give orders to the clouds: ‘Don't rain on that vineyard, ever!'"

Nahum 3:14
Store up water for the siege. Shore up your defenses. Get down to basics: Work the clay and make bricks. Sorry. Too late. Enemy fire will burn you up. Swords will cut you to pieces. You'll be chewed up as if by locusts. Yes, as if by locusts—a fitting fate, for you yourselves are a locust plague. You've multiplied shops and shopkeepers— more buyers and sellers than stars in the sky! A plague of locusts, cleaning out the neighborhood and then flying off. Your bureaucrats are locusts, your brokers and bankers are locusts. Early on, they're all at your service, full of smiles and promises, But later when you return with questions or complaints, you'll find they've flown off and are nowhere to be found. King of Assyria! Your shepherd-leaders, in charge of caring for your people, Are busy doing everything else but. They're not doing their job, And your people are scattered and lost. There's no one to look after them. You're past the point of no return. Your wound is fatal. When the story of your fate gets out, the whole world will applaud and cry "Encore!" Your cruel evil has seeped into every nook and cranny of the world. Everyone has felt it and suffered.

James 4:13
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, "Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we're off to such and such a city for the year. We're going to start a business and make a lot of money." You don't know the first thing about tomorrow. You're nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, "If the Master wills it and we're still alive, we'll do this or that."

James 5:1
And a final word to you arrogant rich: Take some lessons in lament. You'll need buckets for the tears when the crash comes upon you. Your money is corrupt and your fine clothes stink. Your greedy luxuries are a cancer in your gut, destroying your life from within. You thought you were piling up wealth. What you've piled up is judgment.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[There is] a voice of the howling of the shepherds,.... Which may be understood either of the civil rulers among the Jews, who now lose their honour and their riches; and so the Targum, Jarchi, and Aben Ezra, interpret it of kings; or of the ecclesiastical rulers, the elders of the people, the Scribes and Pharisees:

for their glory is spoiled; their power and authority; their riches and wealth; their places of honour and profit; their offices, posts, and employments, whether in civil or religious matters, are taken from them, and they are deprived of them:

a voice of the roaring of young lions; of princes, comparable to them for their power, tyranny, and cruelty: the Targum is,

"their roaring is as the roaring of young lions:''

for the pride of Jordan is spoiled; a place where lions and their young ones resorted, as Jarchi observes; :-. Jordan is here put for the whole land of Judea now wasted, and so its pride and glory gone; as if the waters of Jordan were dried up, the pride and glory of that, and which it showed when its waters swelled and overflowed; hence called by Pliny x "ambitiosus amnis", a haughty and ambitious swelling river.

x Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 15.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled - It echoes on from Jeremiah before the captivity, “Howl, ye shepherds - A voice of the cry of the shepherds. and an howling of the principal of the flock; for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture” Jeremiah 25:34, Jeremiah 25:36. There is one chorus of desolation, the mighty and the lowly; the shepherds and the young lions; what is at other times opposed is joined in one wailing. “The pride of Jordan” are the stately oaks on its banks, which shroud it from sight, until you reach its edges, and which, after the captivity of the ten tribes, became the haunt of lions and their chief abode in Palestine, “on account of the burning heat, and the nearness of the desert, and the breadth of the vast solitude and jungles” (Jerome). See Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44; 2 Kings 17:25. The lion lingered there even to the close of the 12th cent. Phocas in Reland Palaest. i. 274. Cyril says in the present, “there are very many lions there, roaring horribly and striking fear into the inhabitants”).

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Zechariah 11:3. Young lions — Princes and rulers. By shepherds, kings or priests may be intended.