The Doomed Flock

Open your doors, O Lebanon,

that the fire may consume your cedars!

2 

Wail, O cypress,[fn] for the cedar has fallen;

the majestic [trees] are ruined!

Wail, O oaks of Bashan,

for the dense forest has been cut down!

3 

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 

This is what the LORD my God says:“Pasture the flock [marked] for slaughter, 5 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 

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 

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 And in one month I dismissed three shepherds.

My soul grew impatient with [the flock], and their souls also detested me. 9 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.”

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