5. Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty, and they
that sell them, say, Blessed be the Lord; for I am rich; and their own
shepherds pity them not.
6. For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord;
but, lo! I will deliver the men, every one into his neighbour’s hand, and
into the hand of his king, and they shall smite the land, and out of their
hand I will not deliver them.
7. Yea, I fed the flock of the slaughter, truly an afflicted flock it was,
and I took unto me two staves; the one I called Pleasant, and the other I
called Painful, and I fed the flock.
8. And when I had cut off three shepherds in one month; then my soul
loathed them, and their souls also abhorred me.
9. Then said I, I will not feed you; that that dieth, let it die; and that
that is missed, let it be missed; and let the rest eat every one the flesh
of another.
10. And I took my staff, the Pleasant, and cut it asunder, that I might
break my covenant which I had made (for them) with all the nations.
11. And it was broken in that day, and so the afflicted flock, that waited
upon me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.
12. And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my reward; and if not,
forbear; and they weighed for my reward thirty pieces of silver.
13. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it into the treasury, the magnanimous,
the precious, that I have withdrawn from them; and I took the thirty
pieces of silver, and cast them into the house of the Lord, into the
treasury.
14. Then I cut asunder my other staff, the Painful, to break the
brotherhood between Judah, and Israel.
15. And the Lord said unto me, Take unto thee, yet the instruments of a
foolish shepherd.
16. For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who shall not
remember those that are missed, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken
one, nor feed that that stands still, but he shall eat the flesh of the
fat, and tear their hoofs asunder.
17. Woe to the worthless shepherds, who leave the flock! the sword shall
be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be quite dried up,
and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.