The Doomed Flock 1 UST Open your gates, people living in Lebanon, because you will not be able to stop the fire from burning up your cedar trees! BSB BSB: Open your doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may consume your cedars!
2 UST The cypress trees will be like people who are wailing because the mighty cedar trees have fallen; enemies have destroyed those magnificent trees! The oak trees in the region of Bashan will also be like people wailing because enemies have cut down the trees of their thick 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 UST Listen to the shepherds crying because enemies have ruined the rich pastures where they fed their flocks! Listen to the young lions roaring because enemies have destroyed the thickets along the Jordan River where they lived! 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 UST This is what Yahweh my God said to me,“Act as a shepherd for a flock of sheep that people are about to slaughter. BSB BSB: This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,
5 UST The people who buy the sheep slaughter them, and no one punishes those buyers. The people who sell the sheep say that they praise Yahweh because they are becoming rich. Not even the shepherds pity 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 UST That is because I, Yahweh, will no longer pity the people who live in this land. That is what I, Yahweh, declare. Instead, I will let everyone’s neighbors and their king dominate them. Those people will devastate this land, and I will not rescue anyone from their control.” 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 UST So I became like a shepherd of a flock of sheep that people were about to slaughter. I took good care of the sheep, especially the weakest ones. Then I took two shepherd’s staffs. I named one staff“Favor” and the other staff,“Union.” And I took care of 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 UST In one month I got rid of the three other shepherds. I became impatient with them, and they also hated me. BSB BSB: And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.
9 UST So I said,“I will no longer be your shepherd. Let the sheep that are dying die, and let the sheep that are perishing perish. And let those that remain destroy 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.”
Thirty Pieces of Silver (Matthew 27:3–10)
10 UST Then I took my staff that I had named“Favor,” and I broke it to signify that Yahweh was canceling the covenant that he had made with all the peoples. 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 UST So the covenant ended on that day. Then the afflicted people of the flock who were watching me knew that this was truly 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 UST I said to them,“If it seems right to you, pay me my wages; but if not, do not pay me.” So they weighed out my wages: 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 UST Then Yahweh said to me,“Throw that money to the potter! What a pathetic price they decided to pay for me!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the temple of Yahweh. 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 UST Then I broke my second staff, the one that I had named“Union,” to signify that the close family relationship between the people of Judah and the people of Israel would end. BSB BSB: Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 UST Then Yahweh said to me,“Take again the tools that a foolish shepherd uses, BSB BSB: And the LORD said to me: “Take up once more the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
16 UST because surely I am going to appoint a shepherd over the people in this land, one who will not care for them. He will not help the sheep that are perishing, he will not search for the ones that have strayed, he will not heal the ones that are injured, and he will not feed the healthy ones. Instead, he will eat the meat of the fattest sheep and 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 UST Terrible things will happen to that worthless shepherd who abandons the flock that he should care for! Enemies will attack his arm and his right eye with a sword! As a result, his arm will lose all its strength and his right eye will 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!”