Zechariah Expresses G-d’s Sentiments In His Sovereignty Over His People With Its Rulers

When wickedness outweighs righteousness, G-d uses people to execute His judgment.

Evil leaders are used to do evil. The same is true with the righteous, to do good or to bless.

“The Enemies And Rulers Of Israel”

Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let fire consume your cedars!
11:1
There is a sound of the shepherds’ wailing, for their power has been vanquished; there is a sound of young lion’s roar, for the heights of the Jordan have been vanquished.
11:3
For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the land — the word of Hashem. Behold, I am giving over the people, each one into the hand of his fellow and into the hand of his king; they will crush the land, and I will not save [them] from their hand.
:6
… I took for Myself two staffs — one I called “Noam” and the other I called “Hobelim” and I tended the flock.
:7
And I took My staff Noam and broke it, to annul My covenant that I had sealed with the peoples.
:10
Then I broke My second staff, Hobelim, to annul the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
:14

1 Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let the fire consume your cedars.
2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the mighty ones have been spoiled. Wail, O oaks of the Bashan, for the fortified forest has gone down.
3 Hearken [to] the wailing of the shepherds, for their glory has been spoiled. Hearken [to] the roar of the young lions, for the pride of the Jordan has been spoiled.
4 So said the Lord, my God: Tend the flock of slaughter,
5 whose buyers shall slay them and not be guilty; and whose sellers shall say, “Blessed be the Lord, for I have become wealthy”; and whose shepherds shall not have pity on them.
6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. And behold! I will deliver the men, each one into his neighbor’s hand and into his king’s hand. And they shall crush the land, and I will not save [them] from their hand[s].
7 And I tended the flock of slaughter; indeed, the poor of the flock. And I took for Myself two staffs; one I called Pleasantness, and one I called Destroyers; and I tended the flock.
8 I cut off the three shepherds in one month, I could not tolerate them; moreover, they were too much for Me.
9 And I said, “I will not tend you. That which dies-let it die; and that which is cut off-let it be cut off. And the survivors shall eat, each one her neighbor’s flesh.
10 And I took My [first] staff, [called] Pleasantness and I cut it off to nullify My convenant that I [had] formed with all the peoples.
11 And it was nullified on that day. And the poor of the flock that kept My word knew this, that it was the word of the Lord.
12 And I said to them: “If it pleases you, give [Me] My hire, and if not, forbear.” And they weighed out My hire: thirty pieces of silver.
13 And the Lord said to me: Cast it to the keeper of the treasury, to the stronghold of glory-of which I stripped them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and I cast it into the house of the Lord, to the keeper of the treasury.
14 And I cut off my second staff, the Destroyers, to nullify the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 And the Lord said to me; Take for yourself still another thing, the instrument of a foolish shepherd.
16 For, behold! I am setting up a shepherd in the land. Those that are cut off he shall not remember; the foolish ones he shall not seek. The lame he shall not heal; the one that can stand he shall not bear. And the flesh of the fat one he shall eat, and their hoofs he shall break.
17 Ho, worthless shepherd, who abandons the flock! A sword is on his arm and his right eye; his arm shall wither, and his right eye shall dim.