1 Throw wide your doors, Lebanon {Levanon: mountain forest}, so that fire may consume your cedars {araz: prized timber}.
2 Wail, O cypress {berosh: fir tree}, for the cedar has fallen—the mighty ones have been devastated. Wail, O oaks of Bashan, for the thick forest {habatsir: dense growth} has come down.
3 The sound of the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory {addartam: their majesty} is devastated; the sound of the roaring {shaagat: fierce cry} of young lions, for the pride of the Jordan is devastated.
4 Thus says the LORD my God {YHWH Elohai, Judicial Sovereign}: “Shepherd the flock {tson: sheep collective} destined for slaughter.”
5 Those whose buyers kill them and are not held guilty, and whose sellers say, “Blessed be the LORD {YHWH, Divine Arbiter}, for I have become rich,” and their shepherds do not have compassion {yakhmol: show mercy} on them.
6 For I will not again pity the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge}. But behold, I am giving every man over into the hand of his neighbor and into the hand of his king, and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver {atztzil: rescue, snatch away} them from their hand.
7 So I shepherded the flock of slaughter, therefore the afflicted {aniyyei: humbled or oppressed} of the flock; and I took for myself two staffs—one I called Pleasantness {noʿam: beauty, favor} and the other I called Bands; and I shepherded the flock.
8 And I eliminated {akchid: forceful removal} the three shepherds in one month; but my soul became impatient with them and also their soul was weary {bachalah: utter weariness} of me.
9 Then I said that I would not shepherd you; let the dying {hametah: condemned one} die, let the one being cut off be cut off, and let those who remain {nisharot: survivors} eat one another’s flesh.
10 And I {YHWH, Covenant Judge} took my staff called Pleasantness {noam: symbol of favor} and I cut it off to break the covenant that I had made with all the peoples.
11 And it was broken {tuphar: passive undoing} on that day, and the poor of the flock, those who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the LORD {YHWH, Divine Speaker}.
12 And I said to them, “If it seems good in your eyes, give me my wage {sechari: agreed payment}; but if not, refrain.” So they weighed out my wage—thirty pieces of silver {kasef: monetary silver}.
13 The LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} said to me, “Cast it to the potter—the splendid price {eder: majestic or notable} at which they valued me.” Then I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them into the house of the LORD for the potter.
14 And I cut off my second staff, the Binders {chovlim: unifying force}, to break the brotherhood {achavah: covenant bond} between Judah and Israel.
15 And the LORD {YHWH, Sovereign Commander} said to me, “Yet take for yourself the implements of a foolish {evili: lacks wisdom} shepherd.”
16 For behold, I {YHWH, Sovereign Appointer} am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not attend to those being destroyed, will not seek the youth {naʿar: inexperienced person}, will not heal the one being broken, and will not sustain the one standing; but he will eat the flesh of the fat one and tear off their hooves.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd {ha-elil: idol, vanity} who forsakes the flock! Let the sword fall upon his arm and upon his right eye. May his arm wither and dry up {tibash: complete desiccation} and his right eye be utterly darkened.