Zechariah 11
About ZechariahWritten by AI
Zechariah was a priest and prophet who began preaching in 520 BC, two months after Haggai, to the Jews rebuilding Jerusalem after the exile. Haggai urged them to build; Zechariah lifted their eyes to what God was doing and would do. Many scholars think chapters 9 to 14 come from later in his life, and some think from a later writer.
The first half has eight night visions, full of horses, horns, lampstands, and a flying scroll, plus a call to justice and mercy. The second half looks further ahead, to a coming King, a rejected Shepherd, and the Day of the LORD. Christians differ on how parts of chapters 12 to 14 will be fulfilled.
Watch for how often the Gospels draw on this book: the King riding a donkey, thirty pieces of silver, the pierced one, the struck Shepherd. And remember the word to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit.”
Before you read Zechariah 11Written by AI
A difficult chapter. Zechariah acts out the role of a shepherd caring for a flock doomed to slaughter, with two staffs called Favor and Union. The flock rejects him and values him at thirty pieces of silver, which he throws to the potter in the house of the LORD. Matthew connects this to Judas and the potter's field.
The Doomed Flock
Open your doors, O Lebanon,
that the fire may consume your cedars!
Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen;
the majestic trees are ruined!
Wail, O oaks of Bashan,
for the dense forest has been cut down!
Listen to the wailing of the shepherds,
for their glory is in ruins.
Listen to the roaring of the young lions,
for the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.
This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter, whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
For I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land, declares the LORD, but behold, I will cause each man to fall into the hands of his neighbor and his king, who will devastate the land, and I will not deliver it from their hands.”
So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock. And in one month I dismissed three shepherds.
My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me. Then I said, “I will no longer shepherd you. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish; and let those who remain devour one another’s flesh.”
Thirty Pieces of Silver
Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations. It was revoked on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.
Then I told them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—this magnificent price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves.
Woe to the worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May a sword strike his arm
and his right eye!
May his arm be completely withered
and his right eye utterly blinded!”