4 My god Yahweh says: “Be like a shepherd who’s watching over the flock that have been marked to be slaughtered. 5 The ones who buy them, slaughter them and aren’t punished, and the ones who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh. I’ve become rich.’ because the shepherds working for the flocks’ owners have no pity on them.

6 This is Yahweh’s declaration: I will no longer feel sorry for the people of this country. Listen, I’m about to allow everyone to be taken over by their neighbours and by their king and allow them to destroy the land, and I won’t rescue anyone from them.”

7 So I became the shepherd of the flock that had been marked for slaughter—the ones who were suffering the most. I took two shepherd’s staffs—I named one ‘Favour’, and the other I named ‘Unity’, and then I shepherded the flock. 8 Then I destroyed the three shepherds—in one month I became impatient with them, and they also hated me. 9 So I said to the owners, “I won’t work for you any longer as a shepherd. The sheep that are dying—let them die. The sheep that are being destroyed—let them be destroyed. Let the sheep that remain start eating each other.”

10 Then I took my staff named ‘Favour’ and broke it to break the agreement that I’d made with all of my tribes. 11 So the agreement was broken on that day, and the ones in the flock who were suffering the most and who were watching me, knew that Yahweh had spoken. 12 Then I told them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages, but if not, don’t bother.” So they paid me thirty silver coins.[ref]

13 Then Yahweh told me, “Give the money to the potter[fn]—the pathetic amount that they valued you at.” So I took the thirty silver coins and tossed them to the potter in Yahweh’s temple. 14 Then I broke my second staff named ‘Unity’ to break the brotherhood between Yehudah (Judah) and Yisrael (Israel).

15 After that, Yahweh told me, “Again, take the equipment of a simple shepherd for yourself, 16 because listen, I’m about to set a shepherd in place in the land who won’t care for those who are dying. He won’t seek out the sheep gone missing, nor will he heal the crippled sheep. He won’t feed the sheep that are healthy, but he’ll tear off the hooves of the fattened sheep and eat them for meat.

17 The worthless shepherd who abandons the flock won’t end well.

May the sword come against his arm and his right eye.

≈ May his arm wither away and may his right eye become blind.”