Messianic

Zechariah 11:4-17

Zechariah · ~520 BC · Status: Fulfilled · Confidence: 65% · Payne §Zech 53
“Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter; Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.”
King James Version · the opening — all 14 verses are below
More of Zechariah 11 on this siteZechariah 11:12

Zechariah's enacted prophecy of the good shepherd and the thirty pieces of silver, remarkably fulfilled in Judas's betrayal.

Read the whole passage — all 14 verses (KJV)

11:4Thus saith the LORD my God; Feed the flock of the slaughter;

11:5Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed be the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

11:6For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, saith the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall smite the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.

11:7And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.

11:8Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.

11:9Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.

11:10And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.

11:11And it was broken in that day: and so the poor of the flock that waited upon me knew that it was the word of the LORD.

11:12And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.

11:13And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.

11:14Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

11:15And the LORD said unto me, Take unto thee yet the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

11:16For, lo, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, which shall not visit those that be cut off, neither shall seek the young one, nor heal that that is broken, nor feed that that standeth still: but he shall eat the flesh of the fat, and tear their claws in pieces.

11:17Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock! the sword shall be upon his arm, and upon his right eye: his arm shall be clean dried up, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened.

Fulfillment References

Matthew 27:9-10 Matthew 26:15 Zechariah 11:13

How Traditions Read This Prophecy

Apostolic (Oneness) PentecostalThe rejected Shepherd is priced at 'thirty pieces of silver' — the price of a slave — and the money cast 'to the potter in the house of the LORD' (11:12-13), fulfilled when Judas betrayed the Lord Jesus for thirty pieces and the silver bought the potter's field (Matt. 27:9-10). The Shepherd valued and sold is God Himself in flesh, come to feed the flock and rejected by His own.
JewishAn enacted prophecy of the rejected shepherd and the breaking of the covenant with the flock; the 'thirty pieces' a contemptuous wage. Read of failed leadership over Israel, not of Jesus.
CatholicThe Good Shepherd rejected and sold; the thirty pieces and the potter's field fulfilled in the Passion (Matt. 27).
ProtestantA detailed messianic prophecy of Christ's betrayal price; Matthew applies it to Judas's thirty pieces and the potter's field.
AcademicA difficult sign-act oracle; Matthew attributes the citation to Jeremiah while drawing on Zechariah 11:12-13 — a noted text-critical puzzle.
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