Ezekiel 34:10

34:10 This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; ¹  the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

Psalms 72:12-14

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ²  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ³  who have no defender.

72:13 He will take pity ⁴  on the poor and needy;

the lives of the needy he will save.

72:14 From harm and violence he will defend them; ⁵ 

he will value their lives. ⁶ 

Jeremiah 23:2-3

23:2 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ⁷  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ⁸  I, the Lord, affirm it! ⁹  23:3 Then I myself will regather those of my people ¹⁰  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ¹¹  They will greatly increase in number.

Zechariah 11:7-9

11:7 So I ¹²  began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter, the most afflicted ¹³  of all the flock. Then I took two staffs, ¹⁴  calling one “Pleasantness” ¹⁵  and the other “Binders,” ¹⁶  and I tended the flock. 11:8 Next I eradicated the three shepherds in one month, ¹⁷  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!”

¹ tn Heb “I will cause them to cease from feeding sheep.”

² tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

³ tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

⁴ tn The prefixed verb form is best understood as a defectively written imperfect (see Deut 7:16).

⁵ tn Or “redeem their lives.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Pss 19:14; 69:18).

⁶ tn Heb “their blood will be precious in his eyes.”

⁷ tn Heb “about the shepherds who are shepherding my people. ‘You have caused my sheep….’” For the metaphor see the study note on the previous verse.

⁸ tn Heb “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who should be shepherding my people: You have scattered my sheep and driven them away and you have not taken care of them. Behold I will visit upon you the evil of your deeds.” “Therefore” announces the judgment which does not come until “Behold.” It is interrupted by the messenger formula and a further indictment. The original has been broken up to conform more to contemporary English style, the metaphors have been interpreted for clarity and the connections between the indictments and the judgments have been carried by “So.”

⁹ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “my sheep.”

¹¹ tn Heb “their fold.”

¹² sn The first person pronoun refers to Zechariah himself who, however, is a “stand-in” for the Lord as the actions of vv. 8-14 make clear. The prophet, like others before him, probably performed actions dramatizing the account of God’s past dealings with Israel and Judah (cf. Hos 1-3; Isa 20:2-4; Jer 19:1-15; 27:2-11; Ezek 4:1-3).

¹³ tc For the MT reading לָכֵן עֲנִיֵּי (lakhen ’aniyyey, “therefore the [most] afflicted of”) the LXX presupposes לִכְנַעֲנֵיּי (“to the merchants of”). The line would then read “So I began to shepherd the flock destined for slaughter for the sheep merchants” (cf. NAB). This helps to explain the difficult לָכֵן (lakhen) here but otherwise has no attestation or justification, so the MT is followed by most modern English versions.

¹⁴ sn The two staffs represent the two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. For other examples of staffs representing tribes or nations see Num 17:1-11; Ezek 37:15-23.

¹⁵ tn The Hebrew term נֹעַם (no’am) is frequently translated “Favor” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. KJV “Beauty”; CEV “Mercy.”

¹⁶ tn The Hebrew term חֹבְלִים (khovlim) is often translated “Union” (so NASB, NIV, NLT); cf. KJV, ASV “Bands”; NAB “Bonds”; NRSV, TEV, CEV “Unity”).

¹⁷ sn Zechariah is only dramatizing what God had done historically (see the note on the word “cedars” in 11:1). The “one month” probably means just any short period of time in which three kings ruled in succession. Likely candidates are Elah, Zimri, Tibni (1 Kgs 16:8-20); Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem (2 Kgs 15:8-16); or Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, Zedekiah (2 Kgs 24:1–25:7).