_Thus saith Jehovah my God:[1388] Shepherd the flock of slaughter, whose purchasers slaughter them impenitently, and whose sellers say,[1389] Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich!—and their shepherds do not spare them. [For I will no more spare the inhabitants of the land—oracle of Jehovah; but lo! I am about to give mankind[1390] over, each into the hand of his shepherd,[1391] and into the hand of his king; and they shall destroy the land, and I will not secure it from their hands.[1392]] And I shepherded the flock of slaughter for the sheep merchants,[1393] and I took to me two staves—the one I called Grace, and the other I called Union[1394]—and so I shepherded the sheep. And I destroyed the three shepherds in one month. Then was my soul vexed with them, and they on their part were displeased with me. And I said: I will not shepherd you: what is dead, let it die; and what is destroyed, let it be destroyed; and those that survive, let them devour one another’s flesh! And I took my staff Grace, and I brake it so as to annul my covenant which I made with all the peoples.[1395] And in that day it was annulled, and the dealers of the sheep,[1396] who watched me, knew that it was Jehovah’s word. And I said to them, If it be good in your sight, give me my wage, and if it be not good, let it go! And they weighed out my wage, thirty pieces of silver. Then said Jehovah to me, Throw it into the treasury[1397] (the precious wage at which I[1398] had been valued of them). So I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the House of Jehovah, to the treasury.[1399] And I brake my second staff, Union, so as to dissolve the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.[1400] And Jehovah said to me: Take again to thee the implements of a worthless shepherd: for lo! I am about to appoint a shepherd over the land; the destroyed he will not visit, the ...[1401] he will not seek out, the wounded he will not heal, the ...;[1402] he will not cherish, but he will devour the flesh of the fat and....[1403] Woe to My worthless[1404] shepherd, that deserts the flock! The sword be upon his arm and his right eye! May his arm wither, and his right eye be blinded._
Upon this follows the section xiii. 7-9, which develops the tragedy of the nation to its climax in the murder of the good shepherd.
_Up, Sword, against My shepherd and the man My compatriot[1405]—oracle of Jehovah of Hosts. Smite[1406] the shepherd, that the sheep may be scattered; and I will turn My hand against the little ones.[1407] And it shall come to pass in all the land—oracle of Jehovah—that two-thirds shall be cut off in it, and perish, but a third shall be left in it. And I shall bring the third into the fire, and smelt it as _men_ smelt silver and try it as _men_ try gold. It shall call upon My Name, and I will answer it. And I will[1408] say, It is My people, and it will say, Jehovah my God!_
8. JUDAH _versus_ JERUSALEM (xii. 1-7).
A title, though probably of later date than the text,[1409] introduces with the beginning of chap. xii. an oracle plainly from circumstances different from those of the preceding chapters. The nations, not particularised as they have been, gather to the siege of Jerusalem, and, very singularly, Judah is gathered with them against her own capital. But God makes the city like one of those great boulders, deeply embedded, which husbandmen try to pull up from their fields, but it tears and wounds the hands of those who would remove it. Moreover God strikes with panic all the besiegers, save only Judah, who, her eyes being opened, perceives that God is with Jerusalem and turns to her help. Jerusalem remains in her place; but the glory of the victory is first Judah’s, so that the house of David may not have too much fame nor boast over the country districts. The writer doubtless alludes to some temporary schism between the capital and country caused by the arrogance of the former. But we have no means of knowing when this took place. It must often have been imminent in the days both before and especially after the Exile, when Jerusalem had absorbed all the religious privilege and influence of the nation. The language is undoubtedly late.[1410]