1 O pen your doors, O Lebanon, That fire may devour your cedars.

Open, O Lebanon, thy doors, And fire doth devour among thy cedars.

2 W ail, 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.

Howl, O fir, for fallen hath the cedar, For their honourable ones were destroyed, Howl, ye oaks of Bashan, For come down hath the fenced forest,

3 T here is the sound of wailing shepherds! For their glory is in ruins. There is the sound of roaring lions! For the pride of the Jordan is in ruins. Prophecy of the Shepherds

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.

4 T hus says the Lord my God, “Feed the flock for slaughter,

Thus said Jehovah my God: `Feed the flock of the slaughter,

5 w hose 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.

Whose buyers slay them, and are not guilty, And their sellers say, Blessed Jehovah, And I am rich, And their shepherds have no pity on them.

6 F or 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.”

For I have pity no more on inhabitants of the land, An affirmation of Jehovah, And lo, I am causing man to come forth, Each into the hand of his neighbour, And into the hand of his king, And they have beaten down the land, And I do not deliver out of their hand.'

7 S o I fed the flock for slaughter, in particular the poor of the flock. I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bonds; and I fed the flock.

And I feed the flock of slaughter, even you, ye afflicted of the flock; and I take to me two staves, the one I have called Pleasantness, and the other I have called Bands, and I feed the flock.

8 I dismissed the three shepherds in one month. My soul loathed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

And I cut off the three shepherds in one month, and my soul is grieved with them, and also their soul hath abhorred me.

9 T hen I said, “I will not feed you. Let what is dying die, and what is perishing perish. Let those that are left eat each other’s flesh.”

And I say, `I do not feed you, the dying, let die; and the cut off, let be cut off; and the remaining ones, let each eat the flesh of its neighbour.'

10 A nd I took my staff, Beauty, and cut it in two, that I might break the covenant which I had made with all the peoples.

And I take My staff Pleasantness, and cut it asunder, to make void My covenant that I had made with all the peoples:

11 S o it was broken on that day. Thus the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.

and it is broken in that day, and know well do the afflicted of the flock who are observing me, that it a word of Jehovah.

12 T hen 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 I say unto them: `If good in your eyes, give my hire, and if not, forbear;' and they weigh out my hire -- thirty silverlings.

13 A nd 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 Jehovah saith unto me, `Cast it unto the potter;' the goodly price that I have been prized at by them, and I take the thirty silverlings, and cast them the house of Jehovah, unto the potter.

14 T hen I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

And I cut asunder my second staff, Bands, to break the unity between Judah and Israel.

15 A nd the Lord said to me, “Next, take for yourself the implements of a foolish shepherd.

And Jehovah saith unto me, `Again take to thee the instrument of a foolish shepherd.

16 F or 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.

For lo, I am raising up a shepherd in the land, The cut off he doth not inspect, The shaken off he doth not seek, And the broken he doth not heal, The standing he doth not sustain, And the flesh of the fat he doth eat, And their hoofs he doth break off.

17 “ Woe to the worthless shepherd, Who leaves the flock! A sword shall be against his arm And against his right eye; His arm shall completely wither, And his right eye shall be totally blinded.”

Wo the worthless shepherd, forsaking the flock, A sword on his arm, and on his right eye, His arm is utterly dried up, And his right eye is very dim!'