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Text -- Zechariah 11:1-17 (NET)
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Strongs On/Off
Context
The History and Future of Judah’s Wicked Kings
11:1 Open your gates , Lebanon , so that the fire may consume your cedars .
11:2 Howl , fir tree, because the cedar has fallen ; the majestic trees have been destroyed . Howl , oaks of Bashan , because the impenetrable forest has fallen .
11:3 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 .
11:4 The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter .
11:5 Those who buy them slaughter them and are not held guilty ; those who sell them say , ‘Blessed be the Lord , for I am rich .’ Their own shepherds have no compassion for them.
11:6 Indeed , I will no longer have compassion on the people of the land ,” says the Lord , “but instead I will turn every last person over to his neighbor and his king . They will devastate the land , and I will not deliver it from them.”
11:7 So I began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter , the most afflicted of all the flock . Then I took two staffs , calling one “Pleasantness ” and the other “Binders,” and I tended the flock .
11:8 Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month , for I ran out of patience with them and, indeed, they detested me as well .
11:9 I then said , “I will not shepherd you. What is to die , let it die , and what is to be eradicated , let it be eradicated . As for those who survive , let them eat each other’s flesh !”
11:10 Then I took my staff “Pleasantness ” and cut it in two to annul my covenant that I had made with all the people .
11:11 So it was annulled that very day , and then the most afflicted of the flock who kept faith with me knew that that was the word of the Lord .
11:12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, pay me my wages , but if not , forget it.” So they weighed out my payment – thirty pieces of silver .
11:13 The Lord then said to me, “Throw to the potter that exorbitant sum at which they valued me!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the temple of the Lord .
11:14 Then I cut the second staff “Binders ” in two in order to annul the covenant of brotherhood between Judah and Israel .
11:15 Again the Lord said to me, “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd .
11:16 Indeed , I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not take heed to the sheep headed to slaughter , will not seek the scattered , and will not heal the injured . Moreover, he will not nourish the one that is healthy but instead will eat the meat of the fat sheep and tear off their hooves .
11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock ! May a sword fall on his arm and his right eye ! May his arm wither completely away, and his right eye become completely blind !”
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Names, People and Places, Dictionary Themes and Topics
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Names, People and Places:
Dictionary Themes and Topics:
Israel |
ZECHARIAH, BOOK OF |
Staves |
Cedar |
Minister |
Symbols and Similitudes |
SWELLING |
SHEPHERD |
Beauty and Bands |
ASUNDER |
Quotations and Allusions |
PIECE OF SILVER |
Bashan |
Judas |
Jesus, The Christ |
Pieces |
BAND |
TEXT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT |
BAG |
Prophecy |
more
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expand allCommentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes
NET Notes: Zec 11:1 In this poetic section, plants and animals provide the imagery for rulers, especially evil ones (cf. respectively Isa 10:33-34; Ezek 31:8; Amos 2:9; N...
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NET Notes: Zec 11:5 The expression those who buy them appears to be a reference to the foreign nations to whom Israel’s own kings “sold” their subjects....
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NET Notes: Zec 11:7 The name of the second staff, Binders, refers to the relationship between Israel and Judah (cf. v. 14).
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NET Notes: Zec 11:8 Zechariah is only dramatizing what God had done historically (see the note on the word “cedars” in 11:1). The “one month” prob...
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NET Notes: Zec 11:12 If taken at face value, thirty pieces (shekels) of silver was worth about two and a half years’ wages for a common laborer. The Code of Hammurab...
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NET Notes: Zec 11:15 The grammar (e.g., the incipient participle מֵקִים, maqim, “about to raise up,” v. 16) and overall sen...
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