Zechariah 11:8
in Zechariah 11And in one month I dismissed three shepherds. My soul grew impatient with the flock, and their souls also detested me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.
KJV
Three shepherds also I cut off in one month; and my soul lothed them, and their soul also abhorred me.
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This verse in Zechariah 11
Commentary
8 notes on this verseThree shepherds also I cut off in one month - Taking this literally, some think the three shepherds mean the three Maccabees, Judas, Jonathan, and Simon; others, the three wicked high priests, Jason, Alcimus, and Menelaus; others, the three last princes of the Asmonean race, Alexander, Hyrcanus, and Antigonus. Perhaps three orders may be intended: 1. The priesthood. 2. The dictatorship, including the Scribes, Pharisees, etc. 3. The magistracy, the great sanhedrin, and the smaller councils. These were all annihilated by the Roman conquest.
This site's exposition
the other I called Bands
on Zechariah 11:7-8
The prophet himself becomes the shepherd of the doomed flock, taking two staves he names Beauty and Bands, the first standing for the covenant's grace and the second for the brotherhood binding the nation together. Three shepherds are cut off in a single month, an event the bench reads variously of failed priestly, prophetic, and royal offices, or of a swift purge of rival leaders, with the positions named and none settled. The mutual loathing that follows, the prophet's soul weary of the flock and the flock's soul abhorring him, marks the covenant already fraying before either staff is broken.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
Let us understand this according to the letter of Moses and Aaron. Moses indeed was led out, and Aaron, but not led into the land of promise. Jesus succeeded him. See what is written. Moses died in the desert, Aaron died, Miriam died; and this is what is written in the prophet: "And I will strike," it says, "three shepherds in one month." They died: for they could not enter into the land of promise. They only saw over against the land of promise, and could not enter. The Jews saw the land of promise, and could not enter. For they died in the desert, and their corpses are in the wilderness, of those who died in the desert. We, the sons, under Jesus as leader, came to the Jordan, and entered into the land of promise, and came to Gilgal, and were a second time circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, and the reproach of Egypt was taken away from us. Then Jesus himself our leader holds the sword, and always goes before us, and fights for us, and conquers our adversaries, and for seven days we go around Jericho, that is, this world. We sing with the priestly trumpets, and we go around Jericho, that is, this world, and its walls fall, and we enter in, and we are the victors. Then we conquer the city of Ai: afterward we come to Jebus, we come to Hazor, we come to other cities; we conquer the adversaries whom under Moses we could not conquer.
(Verse 8, 9.) And I took for myself two staffs: one I called Beauty, and the other I called Cords (or Funicles); and I fed the flock. And I cut off three shepherds in one month, and my soul was grieved with them; for their soul also varied against me. And I said, I will not feed you; let it die, let it die; and let it be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Three shepherds also I cut off in one month,....
He was disappointed in them, discouraged concerning them, grieved for them, not only for the shepherds, whom he cut off, but for the people, whom Christ often looked upon with grief in his heart and tears in his eyes. Their provocations even wore out his patience, and he was weary of that faithless and perverse generation.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Probably alluding to the last period of the siege of Jerusalem, when all authority within the city was at an end [HENDERSON]. loathed them--literally, "was straitened" as to them; instead of being enlarged towards them in love (2Co 6:11, 12). The same Hebrew as in Nu 21:4, Margin. No room was left by them for the grace of God, as His favors were rejected [CALVIN].
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 cut off three shepherds in one month - Jerome: “I have read in some one’s commentary, that the shepherds, cut off in the indignation of the Lord, are to be understood of priests and false prophets and kings of the Jews, who, after the passion of Christ, were all cut off in one time, of whom Jeremiah speaketh, “The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things which do not profit” Jer 2:8, and again, “As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests and their prophets” Jer 2:26; and “they said, Come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet” Jer 18:18. Theodoret: “He speaks of the kings of the Jews, and prophets and priests; for by the three orders they were shepherded.” Cyril: “The true and good Shepherd having been already pointed out, it was right and necessary that the hirelings and false shepherds should be removed, the guides of the Jews in the law. The three shepherds were, I deem, those who exercised the legal priesthood, and those appointed judges of the people, and the interpreters of Scripture, that is, the lawyers. For these too fed Israel. Those who had the glory of the priesthood were of the tribe of Levi only; and of them Malachi says, “The priest’s lips shall keep knowledge, and they shall seek the law at his mouth” Mal 2:7. But those who received authority to judge were also selected, yet were appointed out of every tribe. […]
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וָאַכְחִ֛ד | vaakhchid | and I annihilated | H3582 → | 32 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת | sheloshet | [the] three | H7969 → | |
| הָרֹעִ֖ים | haroim | the shepherds | H7462 → | 177 times |
| בְּיֶ֣רַח | beyerach | in a month | H3391 → | |
| אֶחָ֑ד | ʾechad | one | H259 → | 971 times |
| וַתִּקְצַ֤ר | vatiktzar | and it was short | H7114 → | |
| נַפְשִׁי֙ | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | |
| בָּהֶ֔ם | bahem | with them | ||
| וְגַם־ | vegam- | and also | H1571 → | 769 times |
| נַפְשָׁ֖ם | nafsham | self their | H5315 → | |
| בָּחֲלָ֥ה | bachalah | it loathed | H973 → | |
| בִֽי׃ | vi | <in> me |
וָאַכְחִ֛דand I annihilated
vaakhchidH3582 →32 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
שְׁלֹ֥שֶׁת[the] three
sheloshetH7969 →
הָרֹעִ֖יםthe shepherds
haroimH7462 →177 times
בְּיֶ֣רַחin a month
beyerachH3391 →
אֶחָ֑דone
ʾechadH259 →971 times
וַתִּקְצַ֤רand it was short
vatiktzarH7114 →
נַפְשִׁי֙self my
nafshiH5315 →
בָּהֶ֔םwith them
bahem
וְגַם־and also
vegam-H1571 →769 times
נַפְשָׁ֖םself their
nafshamH5315 →
בָּחֲלָ֥הit loathed
bachalahH973 →
בִֽי׃<in> me
vi
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
John 15:18If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
it leads to
- 1 John 3:13
So do not be surprised, brothers, if the world hates you.
- John 7:7
The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.
- Luke 6:22
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man.
- John 3:20
Everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come into the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
- Mark 13:13
You will be hated by everyone because of My name, but the one who perseveres to the end will be saved.
- 1 John 3:13
Through
John 7:7The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me, because I testify that its works are evil.
it leads to
- John 15:18–19
If the world hates you, understand that it hated Me first.
- John 15:18–19
Through
Isaiah 49:7Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer and Holy One of Israel, to Him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the Servant of rulers: “Kings will see You and rise, and princes…
it leads to
- 1 Peter 2:4
As you come to Him, the living stone, rejected by men but chosen and precious in God’s sight,
- Matthew 26:67
Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him
- 1 Peter 2:4
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, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 10; Jerome, Commentary on Zechariah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.