1 ARST You people of Lebanon must open your gates and allow the fire to burn your cedar trees! BSB BSB: Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!
2 ARST Your cypress trees must be like people who are wailing, because enemies have cut down the cedar trees. Those glorious trees are all gone. The oak trees in the region of Bashan should also be like people who are wailing, because enemies have cut down the oak trees in the dense forest. BSB BSB: 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!
3 ARST And listen to the shepherds crying because the fertile pastures have been ruined. Listen to the lions roar; they roar because the thick forest where they live near the Jordan River has been ruined. BSB BSB: 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.
4 ARST This is what Yahweh my God said to me:“I want you to supervise this flock of sheep until the flock perishes. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,
5 ARST The dealers in sheep will kill the sheep, and no one will punish them. Those who sell the sheep will say,‘I praise Yahweh, because I will become rich!’ And the shepherds whom the owners hire do not feel sorry for the sheep. BSB BSB: 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.
6 ARST And similarly, I no longer feel sorry for the people of this country. I am going to allow their fellow countrymen and their king, to oppress them. They will ruin this country, and I will not rescue any of them.” BSB BSB: 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.”
7 ARST So I became the shepherd of a flock of sheep that dealers were going to slaughter and to sell the meat. Then I took two shepherds’ staffs. I named the one staff‘Kindness’ and the other staff‘Union.’ This is how I began to shepherd the sheep. BSB BSB: 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.
8 ARST But the three shepherds who had been with the flock detested me, and I became impatient with the owners who had hired us all. Within one month I had destroyed those shepherds. BSB BSB: And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.
9 ARST So I said to the dealers,“I will no longer be a shepherd for you. I will allow the ones that are dying to die. I will allow the ones that are getting lost to perish. And I will not prevent those that remain from eating each other.” BSB BSB: 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.”
10 ARST Then I took the staff that I had named‘Kindness,’ and I broke it. I did this because Yahweh had told me to cancel the covenant that he had made with all his tribes of Israel. BSB BSB: Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.
11 ARST So that covenant was ended on that very day. The dealers who were watching me knew by seeing what I was doing that I was giving them a message from Yahweh. BSB BSB: 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.
12 ARST I told them,“If you think it is right, pay me for my work. If you do not think it is right, do not pay me.” So they paid me only thirty pieces of silver. BSB BSB: 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.
13 ARST Then Yahweh said to me,“That is a ridiculously small amount of money that they have for your work. So put it into the treasury.” So I took the silver to the temple of Yahweh, and I deposited it in the treasury there. BSB BSB: 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.
14 ARST Then I broke my second staff, the one that I had named“Union.” That indicated that Judah and Israel would no longer be together as brothers. BSB BSB: Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 ARST Then Yahweh said to me,“Take again the things that a foolish shepherd uses, BSB BSB: And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
16 ARST because I am going to appoint a new shepherd for the people, one who will not take care of my people. He will be a foolish shepherd: He will ignore the dying sheep and those that have gotten lost. As for the healthy sheep, he will not feed them; instead, he will butcher them for his own food and will tear off their hooves. BSB BSB: 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.
17 ARST But terrible things will happen to that foolish shepherd who abandons the flock. May his enemies strike his arm and his right eye with their swords. May he have no more strength in his arm, and may his right eye become completely blind.” BSB BSB: 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!”