Daily Reader's Bible - Flipbook - Page 28
possessed and out of his
mind. Why listen to a man like
that?” Others said, “This doesn’t by a demon! Can a demon
sound like a man possessed
open the eyes of the blind?”
SORROW AWAITS THE SHEPHERD THAT LEAVES THE FLOCK
This is what the LORD my God says: “Go and care
for the flock that is intended for slaughter. The
buyers slaughter their sheep without remorse.
The sellers say, ‘Praise the LORD! Now I’m rich!’
Even the shepherds have no compassion for
them. Likewise, I will no longer have pity on
the people of the land,” says the LORD. “I will
let them fall into each other’s hands and into
the hands of their king. They will turn the land
into a wilderness, and I will not rescue them.”
So I cared for the flock intended for slaughter—the flock that was oppressed. Then I took
two shepherd’s staffs and named one Favor
and the other Union. I got rid of their three evil
shepherds in a single month.
But I became impatient with these sheep,
and they hated me, too. So I told them, “I won’t
be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you
die. If you are killed, you are killed. And let
those who remain devour each other!”
Then I took my staff called Favor and cut it in
two, showing that I had revoked the covenant
I had made with all the nations. That was the
end of my covenant with them. The suffering
flock was watching me, and they knew that
the LORD was speaking through my actions.
And I said to them, “If you like, give me my
wages, whatever I am worth; but only if you
want to.” So they counted out for my wages
thirty pieces of silver.
And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the
potter”—this magnificent sum at which they
valued me! So I took the thirty coins and threw
them to the potter in the Temple of the LORD.
Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it
in two, showing that the bond of unity between
Judah and Israel was broken.
Then the LORD said to me, “Go again and play
the part of a worthless shepherd. This illustrates
how I will give this nation a shepherd who will
not care for those who are dying, nor look after
the young, nor heal the injured, nor feed the
healthy. Instead, this shepherd will eat the meat
of the fattest sheep and tear off their hooves.
“What sorrow awaits this
worthless shepherd
who abandons the flock!
The sword will cut his arm
and pierce his right eye.
His arm will become useless,
and his right eye completely blind.”
[ZECHARIAH 11:4–12:14]
This message concerning the fate of Israel
came from the LORD: “This message is from
the LORD, who stretched out the heavens, laid
the foundations of the earth, and formed the
human spirit. I will make Jerusalem like an intoxicating drink that makes the nearby nations
stagger when they send their armies to besiege
Jerusalem and Judah. On that day I will make
Jerusalem an immovable rock. All the nations
will gather against it to try to move it, but they
will only hurt themselves.
“On that day,” says the LORD, “I will cause
every horse to panic and every rider to lose his
nerve. I will watch over the people of Judah,
but I will blind all the horses of their enemies. And the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The people of Jerusalem have found
strength in the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, their
God.’
“On that day I will make the clans of Judah
like a flame that sets a woodpile ablaze or like
a burning torch among sheaves of grain. They
will burn up all the neighboring nations right
and left, while the people living in Jerusalem
remain secure.
“The LORD will give victory to the rest of
Judah first, before Jerusalem, so that the
people of Jerusalem and the royal line of David
will not have greater honor than the rest of
Judah. On that day the LORD will defend the
people of Jerusalem; the weakest among them
will be as mighty as King David! And the royal
descendants will be like God, like the angel of
the LORD who goes before them! For on that
day I will begin to destroy all the nations that
come against Jerusalem.
“Then I will pour out a spirit of grace and
prayer on the family of David and on the people
of Jerusalem. They will look on me whom they
have pierced and mourn for him as for an only
son. They will grieve bitterly for him as for a
firstborn son who has died. The sorrow and
mourning in Jerusalem on that day will be like
the great mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the
valley of Megiddo.
“All Israel will mourn, each clan by itself,
and with the husbands separate from their
wives. The clan of David will mourn alone, as
will the clan of Nathan, the clan of Levi, and
the clan of Shimei. Each of the surviving clans
from Judah will mourn separately, and with
the husbands separate from their wives.
12
23
