New International Version NIV
Good News Translation GNT
1 Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars!
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Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire can burn down your cedar trees!
2 Wail, you juniper, for the cedar has fallen; the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan; the dense forest has been cut down!
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Weep and wail, cypress trees - the cedars have fallen; those glorious trees have been destroyed! Weep and wail, oaks of Bashan - the dense forest has been cut down!
3 Listen to the wail of the shepherds; their rich pastures are destroyed! Listen to the roar of the lions; the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
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The rulers cry out in grief; their glory is gone! Listen to the roaring of the lions; their forest home along the Jordan is destroyed!
4 This is what the LORD my God says: “Shepherd the flock marked for slaughter.
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The Lord my God said to me, "Act the part of the shepherd of a flock of sheep that are going to be butchered.
5 Their buyers slaughter them and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the LORD, I am rich!’ Their own shepherds do not spare them.
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Their owners kill them and go unpunished. They sell the meat and say, "Praise the Lord! We are rich!' Even their own shepherds have no pity on them."
6 For I will no longer have pity on the people of the land,” declares the LORD. “I will give everyone into the hands of their neighbors and their king. They will devastate the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hands.”
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(The Lord said, "I will no longer pity anyone on earth. I myself will put all the people in the power of their rulers. These rulers will devastate the earth, and I will not save it from their power.")
7 So I shepherded the flock marked for slaughter, particularly the oppressed of the flock. Then I took two staffs and called one Favor and the other Union, and I shepherded the flock.
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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 In one month I got rid of the three shepherds. The flock detested me, and I grew weary of them
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I lost patience with three other shepherds, who hated me, and I got rid of them all in a single month.
9 and said, “I will not be your shepherd. Let the dying die, and the perishing perish. Let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.”
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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 my staff called Favor and broke it, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.
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Then I took the stick called "Favor" and broke it, to cancel the covenant which the Lord had made with all the nations.
11 It was revoked on that day, and so the oppressed of the flock who were watching me knew it was the word of the LORD.
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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.
12 I told them, “If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.
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I said to them, "If you are willing, give me my wages. But if not, keep them." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver as my wages.
13 And the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the handsome price at which they valued me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the house of the LORD.
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The Lord said to me, "Put them in the Temple treasury." So I took the thirty pieces of silver - the magnificent sum they thought I was worth - and put them in the Temple treasury.
14 Then I broke my second staff called Union, breaking the family bond between Judah and Israel.
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Then I broke the second stick, the one called "Unity," and the unity of Judah and Israel was shattered.
15 Then the LORD said to me, “Take again the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
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Then the Lord said to me, "Once again act the part of a shepherd, this time a worthless one.
16 For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.
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I have put a shepherd in charge of my flock, but he does not help the sheep that are threatened by destruction; nor does he look for the lost, or heal those that are hurt, or feed the healthy. Instead, he eats the meat of the fattest sheep and tears off their hoofs.
17 “Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May the sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered, his right eye totally blinded!”
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That worthless shepherd is doomed! He has abandoned his flock. War will totally destroy his power. His arm will wither, and his right eye will go blind."
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.