Zechariah 11:9

9 Then I said to the flock, "I will not be your shepherd any longer. Let those die who are to die. Let those be destroyed who are to be destroyed. Those who are left will destroy one another."

Zechariah 11:9 Meaning and Commentary

Zechariah 11:9

Then said I, I will not feed you
That is, any longer; either personally, or by his apostles; he fed them himself, during his public ministry; and afterwards by his apostles, whom he ordered to preach the Gospel to the Jews first; but that being contradicted, blasphemed, and despised by them, they were ordered to turn away from them, and go to the Gentiles: this shows that not the shepherds only, but the body of the people, abhorred Christ and his Gospel: and therefore it was taken away from them: that that dieth, let it die;
literally, by the pestilence, that going by the name of death in Scripture; and spiritually, they that are dead in sin, let them continue so; let them die through famine of the word they have despised; let them die in their sins, and die the second death, they justly deserve: and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off;
literally, by the sword; spiritually, the meaning is, that whereas some were in righteous judgment appointed to ruin, vessels of wrath fitted to destruction; let them be left to themselves, to a judicial blindness, and hardness of heart, and be cut off as unfruitful branches, and be no more in a church state here, and hereafter cast into everlasting burnings: and let the rest eat everyone the flesh of another;
through famine; or destroy each other in their internal divisions, which was the case of the Jews, when Jerusalem was besieged; see ( Galatians 5:15 ) .

Zechariah 11:9 In-Context

7 Those who bought and sold the sheep hired me, and I became the shepherd of the sheep that were going to be butchered. I took two sticks: one I called "Favor" and the other "Unity." And I took care of the flock.

8 I lost patience with three other shepherds, who hated me, and I got rid of them all in a single month.

9 Then I said to the flock, "I will not be your shepherd any longer. Let those die who are to die. Let those be destroyed who are to be destroyed. Those who are left will destroy one another."

10 Then I took the stick called "Favor" and broke it, to cancel the covenant which the Lord had made with all the nations.

11 So the covenant was canceled on that day. Those who bought and sold the sheep were watching me, and they knew that the Lord was speaking through what I did.