¹ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, set thy face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them,

³ And say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD; Thus saith the Lord GOD to the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys; Behold, I, even I, will bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places.

⁴ And your altars shall be desolate, and your images shall be broken: and I will cast down your slain men before your idols.

⁵ And I will lay the dead carcases of the children of Israel before their idols; and I will scatter your bones round about your altars.

⁶ In all your dwellingplaces the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate; that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols may be broken and cease, and your images may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.

⁷ And the slain shall fall in the midst of you, and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

⁸ Yet will I leave a remnant, that ye may have some that shall escape the sword among the nations, when ye shall be scattered through the countries.

⁹ And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations.

¹⁰ And they shall know that I am the LORD, and that I have not said in vain that I would do this evil unto them.

¹¹ Thus saith the Lord GOD; Smite with thine hand, and stamp with thy foot, and say, Alas for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel! for they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

¹² He that is far off shall die of the pestilence; and he that is near shall fall by the sword; and he that remaineth and is besieged shall die by the famine: thus will I accomplish my fury upon them.

¹³ Then shall ye know that I am the LORD, when their slain men shall be among their idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the tops of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every thick oak, the place where they did offer sweet savour to all their idols.

¹⁴ So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

¹ Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars.

² Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: Howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.

³ There is a voice of the howling of the shepherds; for their glory is spoiled: a voice of the roaring of young lions; for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

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

⁵ 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.

⁶ For 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.

⁷ And 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.

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

⁹ Then 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.

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

¹¹ And 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.

¹² And 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.

¹³ And 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.

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

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

¹⁶ For, 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.

¹⁷ Woe 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.

²⁶ Rise up to help us. Redeem us for your loving kindness' sake. For the Chief Musician. Set to "The Lilies." A contemplation by the sons of Korah. A wedding song.