Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.
Wail, O fir-tree, for the cedar is fallen, because the {Or, glorious}goodly ones are destroyed: wail, O ye oaks of Bashan, for the {Or, fortified}strong forest is come down.
A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste.
Thus said Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter;
whose {Or, buyers}possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah, for I am rich; and {Or, their shepherd pitieth}their own shepherds pity them not.
For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor'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.
So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily {Or, the most miserable of sheep}the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called {Or, Graciousness }Beauty, and the other I called {Or, Binders Or, Union}Bands; and I fed the flock.
And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.
Then said I, I will not feed you: that which dieth, let it die; and {Or, that which is lost, let it be lost}that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let them that are left eat every one the flesh of another.
And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
And it was broken in that day; and {Or, the poor of the flock…knew of a truth}thus {Or, the most miserable of sheep}the poor of the flock that gave heed unto me knew that it was the word of Jehovah.
And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my hire; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my hire thirty pieces of silver.
And Jehovah said unto me, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at by them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them unto the potter, in the house of Jehovah.
Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
And Jehovah said unto me, Take unto thee yet again the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not {Or, miss}visit those that are {Or, lost}cut off, neither will seek {Or, the young}those that are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which {Hebrew: standeth.}is sound; but he will eat the flesh of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.
Woe to the worthless shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.
Querverweise zu Sacharja 11,11 Sach 11,11
So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily {Or, the most miserable of sheep}the poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called {Or, Graciousness }Beauty, and the other I called {Or, Binders Or, Union}Bands; and I fed the flock.
And I will wait for Jehovah, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.
For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith Jehovah; but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor'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.
For Jehovah heareth the needy,And despiseth not his prisoners.
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; to thy name, even to thy memorial name, is the desire of our soul.
And ye shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.
And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity in your enemies' lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them.
And they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, in their trespass which they trespassed against me, and also that, because they walked contrary unto me,
I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity;
then will I remember my covenant with Jacob; and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land.
The land also shall be left by them, and shall enjoy its sabbaths, while it lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity; because, even because they rejected mine ordinances, and their soul abhorred my statutes.
And yet for all that, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them; for I am Jehovah their God;
but I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am Jehovah.
These are the statutes and ordinances and laws, which Jehovah made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by Moses.
For he will deliver the needy when he crieth,And the poor, {Or, and he that hath}that hath no helper.
He will have pity on the {Or, weak}poor and needy,And the souls of the needy he will save.
He will redeem their soul from {Or, fraud}oppression and violence;And precious will their blood be in his sight:
With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee earnestly: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Jehovah will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand;
a nation of fierce countenance, that shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young,
and shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed; that also shall not leave thee grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of thy cattle, or the young of thy flock, until they have caused thee to perish.
And they shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land; and they shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom Jehovah thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee.
The man that is tender among you, and very delicate, his eye shall be evil toward his brother, and toward the wife of his bosom, and toward the remnant of his children whom he hath remaining;
so that he will not give to any of them of the flesh of his children whom he shall eat, because he hath nothing left him, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in all thy gates.
The tender and delicate woman among you, who would not adventure to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and toward her son, and toward her daughter,
and toward her {Or, after-birth}young one that cometh out from between her feet, and toward her children whom she shall bear; for she shall eat them for want of all things secretly, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy gates.
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, JEHOVAH THY GOD;
then Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
And he will bring upon thee again all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will Jehovah bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God.
And it shall come to pass, that, as Jehovah rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you, so Jehovah will rejoice over you to cause you to perish, and to destroy you; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest in to possess it.
And Jehovah will scatter thee among all peoples, from the one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou nor thy fathers, even wood and stone.
And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, and there shall be no rest for the sole of thy foot: but Jehovah will give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and pining of soul;
and thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear night and day, and shalt have no assurance of thy life.
In the morning thou shalt say, Would it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would it were morning! for the fear of thy heart which thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
And Jehovah will bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I said unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall sell yourselves unto your enemies for bondmen and for bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.
What then shall one answer the messengers of the nation? That Jehovah hath founded Zion, and in her shall the afflicted of his people take refuge.
but they that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; they shall walk, and not faint.
And it shall come to pass, when many evils and troubles are come upon them, that this song shall testify before them as a witness; for it shall not be forgotten out of the mouths of their seed: for I know their imagination which they frame this day, before I have brought them into the land which I sware.
But I will leave in the midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall take refuge in the name of Jehovah.
Jehovah is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
For I know that after my death ye will utterly corrupt yourselves, and turn aside from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days; because ye will do that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah, to provoke him to anger through the work of your hands.
And he answered and said unto them, Go and tell John the things which ye have seen and heard; the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have {Or, the gospel}good tidings preached to them.
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.
They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God;They have provoked me to anger with their vanities:And I will move them to jealousy with those that are not a people;I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
For a fire is kindled in mine anger,And burneth unto the lowest Sheol,And devoureth the earth with its increase,And setteth on fire the foundations of the mountains.
I will heap evils upon them;I will spend mine arrows upon them:
They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with {Hebrew: burning coals. See Habakkuk 3:5.}burning heatAnd bitter destruction;And the teeth of beasts will I send upon them,With the poison of crawling things of the dust.
Without shall the sword bereave,And in the chambers terror;It shall destroy both young man and virgin,The suckling with the man of gray hairs.
I said, I would scatter them afar,I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men;
Were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy,Lest their adversaries should judge amiss,Lest they should say, Our hand is exalted,And Jehovah hath not done all this.
For they are a nation void of counsel,And there is no understanding in them.
Oh that they were wise, that they understood this,That they would consider their latter end!
How should one chase a thousand,And two put ten thousand to flight,Except their Rock had sold them,And Jehovah had delivered them up?
For their rock is not as our Rock,Even our enemies themselves being judges.
For their vine is of the vine of Sodom,And of the fields of Gomorrah:Their grapes are grapes of gall,Their clusters are bitter:
Their wine is the poison of serpents,And the cruel venom of asps.
Is not this laid up in store with me,Sealed up {Or, in my treasuries}among my treasures?
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,At the time when their foot shall slide:For the day of their calamity is at hand,And the things that are to come upon them shall make haste.
For Jehovah will judge his people,And repent himself for his servants;When he seeth that their power is gone,And there is none remaining, shut up or left at large.
And he will say, Where are their gods,The rock in which they took refuge;
Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices,And drank the wine of their drink-offering?Let them rise up and help you,Let them be your protection.
See now that I, even I, am he,And there is no god with me:I kill, and I make alive;I wound, and I heal;And there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
For I lift up my hand to heaven,And say, As I live for ever,
If I whet {Hebrew: the lightning of my sword.}my glittering sword,And my hand take hold on judgment;I will render vengeance to mine adversaries,And will recompense them that hate me.
I will make mine arrows drunk with blood,And my sword shall devour flesh;With the blood of the slain and the captives, {Or, From the beginning of revenges upon the enemy}From {Or, the hairy head of the enemy}the head of the leaders of the enemy.
and they could not find what they might do; for the people all hung upon him, listening.
But as for me, {Or, in Jehovah will I keep watch}I will look unto Jehovah; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
And behold, I send forth the promise of my Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city, until ye be clothed with power from on high.
And he led them out until they were over against Bethany: and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he parted from them, {Some ancient authorities omit and was carried up into heaven.}and was carried up into heaven.
And they {Some ancient authorities omit worshipped him, and. See marginal note on chapter 4:7.}worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy:
and were continually in the temple, blessing God.
Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him?
And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened:
according as it is written, {Isaiah 29:10; Deuteronomy 29:4.}God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day.
And David saith, {Psalm 69:22 f.}Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see,And bow thou down their back always.
I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their {Or, trespass Compare chapter 5:15 ff.}fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.
Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
But ye have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you, and themselves drag you before the judgment-seats?
And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks unto God, and spake of him to all them that were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Come now, ye rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you.
Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
Your gold and your silver are rusted; and their rust shall be for a testimony {Or, unto}against you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye have laid up your treasure in the last days.
Behold, the hire of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out: and the cries of them that reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
Ye have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure; ye have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter.
Ye have condemned, ye have killed the righteous one; he doth not resist you.
(he had not consented to their counsel and deed), a man of Arimathæa, a city of the Jews, who was looking for the kingdom of God:
Of the men therefore that have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and went out {Or, over}among us,
beginning from the baptism of John, unto the day that he was received up from us, of these must one become a witness with us of his resurrection.