Zaccaria 11:9

9 E io dissi: "Non vi pascerò più; la moribonda muoia, quella che sta per perire perisca, e quelle che restano, divorino l’una la carne dell’altra".

Zaccaria 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 ) .

Zaccaria 11:9 In-Context

7 Allora io mi misi a pascere le pecore destinate al macello, e perciò le più misere del gregge; e mi presi due verghe; chiamai l’una Favore e l’altra Vincoli, e mi misi a pascere il gregge.

8 E sterminai i tre pastori in un mese; l’anima mia perdette la pazienza con loro, e anche l’anima loro m’avea preso a sdegno.

9 E io dissi: "Non vi pascerò più; la moribonda muoia, quella che sta per perire perisca, e quelle che restano, divorino l’una la carne dell’altra".

10 E presi la mia verga Favore e la spezzai, per annullare il patto che avevo stretto con tutti i popoli.

11 E quello fu annullato in quel giorno; e le pecore più misere del gregge che m’osservavano, conobbero che quella era la parola dell’Eterno.