The Shepherd, the Two Staffs, and Israel's Rejection
Zechariah 11:4-17
4Thus said the LORD my God: Pasture the flock of the Slaughter.5Those who buy them kill them and are not held guilty, and those who sell them say, Blessed be the LORD, for I will enrich myself; yet their shepherds do not spare them.6For I will no longer spare the inhabitants of the land, declares the LORD; and behold, I will cause each man to be found in the hand of his neighbor and in the hand of his king, and they will crush the land, and I will not deliver them from their hand.7So I pastured the flock of the Slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. And I took two rods for myself; to one I gave the name Pleasantness, and to the other I gave the name Union, and I pastured the flock.8Then I removed the three shepherds in a single month, and my soul grew short with them, and their soul also loathed me.9And I said, "I will not pasture you; let the one who is to die die, let the one who is to be destroyed be destroyed, and let those who remain devour one another's flesh."10So I took my rod Pleasantness and cut it in two to annul my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.11Thus it was annulled on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who were watching me knew that it was the word of the LORD.12Then I said to them, If it seems good in your eyes, give my wages; but if not, refrain. So they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.13And the LORD said to me, Throw it to the potter, the noble price at which I was valued by them; so I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD, to the potter.14Then I cut my second rod, Union, in two to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.15And the LORD said to me, Take once more for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd.16For behold, I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not care for the perishing, will not seek the young, will not heal the broken, will not sustain the standing, but will eat the flesh of the fat and will tear off their hoofs.17Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye; let his arm wither away and his right eye grow completely dim.