Chapter 11

Fling thy gates wide, Lebanon, for the fire to come in, and devour thy cedars!

Lament, neighbour pine-tree, for cedar overthrown; here be lordly ones plundered; lament, oaks of Basan, for the secret forest that is cut down!

Hark, how the shepherd-folk lament, their fine mantle1 gone, how roars lion for the thickets of Jordan stripped!

This message the Lord my God sent me:2 To this flock that is a-fattening for slaughter thou must play the shepherd.

What, would they slay without remorse, yonder lords of the flock, sell carcase, and thank the Lord that so enriches them; are there shepherds so unmerciful?

Nay, I will be unmerciful too, the Lord says, to all that dwell on earth; I will leave every son of Adam at the mercy of his neighbour, or the king that rules over him; broken and bowed the land shall be, and no redress shall they have from me henceforward!

Poor sheep fattening for slaughter, take charge of your flock I must; and two staves I made me, for the better tending of it, one I called Beauty, and the other Cords.

Before a month was up, of three shepherds I had rid them, yet had I no patience with them, and they of me grew no less weary.

No more will I tend you, said I; perish all of you that will perish, be lost all that will be lost; and for the residue, let them devour one another; I care not.

With that, I took up the staff I called Beauty, and cut it in two; in token that my covenant with all the world should be null.

Null it was thenceforward; and doubt they might not, the starvelings of the flock that looked up to me, the Lord’s word had come to them.

… And now, said I, pay me my wages, if pay you will; if not, say no more. So they paid me for my wages thirty pieces of silver.

Why, the Lord said, here is a princely sum they rate me at! Throw it to the craftsman yonder. So there, in the Lord’s temple, I threw the craftsman my thirty pieces of silver …

Then I took my other staff, Cords, and cut it in two; in token that all brotherhood was at an end between Juda and Israel.

And the Lord said, Gear of a foolish shepherd thou must take to thee now.

See if I do not find me such a shepherd for this land of theirs, as will leave lost sheep uncounted, strayed sheep unsought, hurt sheep unhealed; and such as are left whole, feed he will not, but eat ever the fattest of them, tearing only the hoofs away.

Out upon the false shepherd5 that abandons his flock! Sword shall pierce the arm of him, and the right eye of him, till arm is withered and eye darkened quite.