4 Así dice el SEÑOR mi Dios: Apacienta las ovejas destinadas para la matanza^a. 5 Los que las compran las matan y salen impunes¹, y el que las vende dice^a: «¡Bendito sea el SEÑOR, porque me he enriquecido^b!»; y ni sus propios pastores se compadecen de ellas^c. 6 Pues yo no me compadeceré más de los habitantes de esta¹ tierra—declara el SEÑOR—sino que he aquí, haré que los hombres caigan² cada uno en manos de otro^a y en manos de su rey; y ellos herirán la tierra^b y yo no los libraré de sus manos^c. 7 Apacenté, pues, las ovejas destinadas para la matanza^a, esto es, los afligidos del rebaño^1b. Y tomé para mí dos cayados^c: a uno lo llamé Gracia^2d y al otro lo llamé Unión³; y apacenté las ovejas^e. 8 Y destruí a los tres pastores en un mes^a, pues mi alma se impacientó con ellos y su alma también se cansó de mí¹. 9 Entonces dije: No os apacentaré más. La que ha de morir, que muera¹; y la que ha de ser destruida, que sea destruida²; y las que queden, cómanse³ la carne unas a otras^a. 10 Y tomé mi cayado Gracia^1a y lo quebré para romper el pacto que yo había hecho con todos los pueblos^b. 11 Y fue roto aquel día; así los afligidos del rebaño¹ que me observaban, conocieron que era la palabra del SEÑOR^a. 12 Y les dije: Si os parece bien, dadme mi paga; y si no, dejadla¹. Y pesaron como mi salario^a treinta piezas de plata^b. 13 Entonces el SEÑOR me dijo: Arrójalo al alfarero (ese magnífico precio con que me valoraron). Tomé pues, las treinta piezas de plata y las arrojé al alfarero en la casa del SEÑOR^a. 14 Y quebré mi segundo cayado, Unión^1a, para romper la hermandad entre Judá e Israel^b.

15 Y el SEÑOR me dijo: Toma otra vez los aperos de un pastor insensato^1a. 16 Porque he aquí, yo voy a levantar en la tierra un pastor que no se preocupará de la que perece^a, ni buscará a la descarriada, ni curará a la herida, ni sustentará a la fuerte, sino que comerá la carne de la cebada^b y arrancará sus pezuñas.

4 Thus says the LORD my God, “Pasture the flock doomed for ^aslaughter, 5 whose buyers slay them and go ^aunpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for ^bI have become rich!’ And their ^cown shepherds have no pity on them nor protect them from the wolves. 6 For I will ^ano longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the LORD; “but behold, I will ^bcause the men to fall, each into the hand of another and into the hands of his foreign king. And the enemy will strike the land, and I will ^cnot rescue the people from their hand.”

7 So I Zechariah ^apastured the flock doomed for slaughter, truly as the name implies the most ^bmiserable of sheep. And I took two shepherd’s ^cstaffs, the one I called ^dFavor (Grace) and the other I called ^eUnion (Bonds) ; so I pastured the flock. 8 Then I eliminated the three incompetent, unfit shepherds the civil rulers, the priests, and the prophets in ^aone month, for I was impatient with them, and they also were tired of me and despised me. Jer 2:8, 26; 18:18 9 So I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to ^adie, let it die, and what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let the survivors devour one another’s flesh.” 10 I took my staff, ^aFavor, and broke it in pieces, ^bbreaking the covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So the covenant was broken on that day, and thus the most ^awretched of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the LORD. 12 I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my ^awages; but if not, do not.” So they weighed out ^1bthirty pieces of silver as my wages. 13 ¹Then the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the ^apotter as if to the dogs—that magnificent sum at which I am valued by them!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the LORD. Matt 26:14, 15; 27:3-10 14 Then I broke my second staff, ^aUnion, into pieces to ^bbreak the brotherhood between Judah (the Southern Kingdom) and Israel (the Northern Kingdom) .

15 The LORD said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a shepherd, but this time of a ^afoolish shepherd. Ezek 34:2-6 16 For behold, I am going to raise up a false shepherd in the land who will ^anot care for the perishing, seek the scattered, heal the broken, or feed the healthy; but will ^beat the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hoofs to consume everything.