Zechariah 11:10
in Zechariah 11Next I took my staff called Favor and cut it in two, revoking the covenant I had made with all the nations.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples.
KJV
And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder, that I might break my covenant which I had made with all the people.
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This verse in Zechariah 11
Commentary
8 notes on this verseEven beauty - Which was the beauty and glory of them, the covenant of God, with all the blessings of it. That I might break - Declare it null. Christ calls it his covenant, for he was the mediator of it.
This site's exposition
I will not feed you
on Zechariah 11:9-11
The shepherd resigns his charge outright, I will not feed you, let the dying die and the perishing perish, and let the rest devour one another, a sentence the commentators read as covenant care formally withdrawn rather than merely neglected. The staff called Beauty is cut in two, breaking the covenant the Lord had made with all the peoples, and the poor of the flock who watched him do it recognized the word of the Lord in the very breaking. Barnes and Pusey take the shattered staff as beauty forfeited, the outward favor Judah had known among the nations withdrawn along with the shepherd's protection.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Vers. 10, 11.) And I took my staff, which was called Beauty, and I cut it in two to break the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. And it was broken on that day, so the poor of the flock, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The Jewish church was now stripped of all its glory; its crown was profaned and cast to the ground, and all its honour laid in the dust; for God departed from it, and would no more own it for his. When Christ told them plainly that the kingdom of God should be taken from them, and given to another people, then be broke the staff of Beauty, Matt. xxi.
And I took my staff, even Beauty, and cut it asunder,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
covenant which I made with all the people--The covenant made with the whole nation is to hold good no more except to the elect remnant. This is the force of the clause, not as MAURER, and others translate. The covenant which I made with all the nations (not to hurt My elect people, Ho 2:18).
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
I took my staff - Beauty, and cut it asunder - And thus I showed that I determined no longer to preserve them in their free and glorious state. And thus I brake my covenant with them, which they had broken on their part already.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And I took my staff Beauty, and cut it asunder - Not, as aforetime, did He chasten His people, retaining His relation to them: for such chastening is an austere form of love. By breaking the staff of His tender love, He signified that this relation was at an end. That I might dissolve My covenant which I had made with all the people - Rather, “with all the peoples,” that is, with all nations. Often as it is said of Israel, that they brake the covenant of God Lev 26:15; Deu 31:16, Deu 31:20; Isa 24:5; Jer 11:10; Jer 31:32; Eze 16:59; Eze 44:7, it is spoken of God, only to deny that He would break it (Lev 26:44; Jdg 2:1, and, strongly, Jer 33:20-21), or in prayer that He would not Jer 14:21. Here it is not absolutely the covenant with His whole people, which He brake; it is rather, so to speak, a covenant with the nations in favor of Israel, allowing thus much and forbidding more, with regard to His people. So God had said of the times of Christ; “In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field and with the fowls of the heaven, and with the creeping things of the ground” (Hos 2:18, (20, Hebrew)); and, “I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land” Eze 34:25; and in Job “thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of’ the field shall be at peace with thee” Job 5:23. This covenant He willed to annihilate. He would no more interpose, as He had before said, “I will not deliver from their hand” Zec 11:6. whoever would might do, what they would, as the Romans first, and well nigh all nations since, have inflicted on the Jews, what they willed; and Mohammedans too have requited to them their contumely to Jesus.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
knew this The righteous among them who kept My statute understood.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאֶקַּ֤ח | vaekach | and I took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מַקְלִי֙ | makli | staff my | H4731 → | 18 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| נֹ֔עַם | noam | Favor | H5278 → | |
| וָאֶגְדַּ֖ע | vaegda' | and I cut up | H1438 → | |
| אֹת֑וֹ | ʾoto | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| לְהָפֵיר֙ | lehafeir | to break | H6565 → | 50 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּרִיתִ֔י | beriti | covenant my | H1285 → | |
| אֲשֶׁ֥ר | ʾasher | which | H834 → | 5497 times |
| כָּרַ֖תִּי | karati | I had made | H3772 → | 288 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | with | H854 → | 929 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָעַמִּֽים׃ | haamim | the peoples | H5971 → | 1873 times |
וָאֶקַּ֤חand I took
vaekachH3947 →966 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
מַקְלִי֙staff my
makliH4731 →18 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
נֹ֔עַםFavor
noamH5278 →
וָאֶגְדַּ֖עand I cut up
vaegda'H1438 →
אֹת֑וֹ<obj.> it
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
לְהָפֵיר֙to break
lehafeirH6565 →50 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
בְּרִיתִ֔יcovenant my
beritiH1285 →
אֲשֶׁ֥רwhich
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
כָּרַ֖תִּיI had made
karatiH3772 →288 times
אֶת־with
ʾet-H854 →929 times
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָעַמִּֽים׃the peoples
haamimH5971 →1873 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 14:21For the sake of Your name do not despise us; do not disgrace Your glorious throne. Remember Your covenant with us; do not break it.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 14:7
Although our iniquities testify against us, O LORD, act for the sake of Your name. Indeed, our rebellions are many; we have sinned against You.
- Psalms 106:45
And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion.
- Jeremiah 3:17
At that time Jerusalem will be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations will be gathered in Jerusalem to honor the name of the LORD. They will no longer follow the…
- Jeremiah 14:7
Through
Psalms 89:39You have renounced the covenant with Your servant and sullied his crown in the dust.
it leads to
- Lamentations 5:16
The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned!
- Lamentations 5:16
Through
Zechariah 11:7So I pastured the flock marked for slaughter, especially the afflicted of the flock. Then I took for myself two staffs, calling one Favor and the other Union, and I pastured the flock.
it leads to
- Zechariah 11:14
Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
- Zechariah 11:4
This is what the LORD my God says: “Pasture the flock marked for slaughter,
- Isaiah 11:4
but with righteousness He will judge the poor, and with equity He will decide for the lowly of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth and slay the…
- Ezekiel 37:16–23
“And you, son of man, take a single stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Judah and to the Israelites associated with him.’ Then take another stick and write on it: ‘Belonging to Joseph—the…
- Zechariah 11:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Zechariah
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.