1. Lebanon, open your gates so that the fire will come and burn your cedar trees.
2. The cypress trees will cry because the cedar trees have fallen. Those powerful trees will be taken away. Oak trees in Bashan will cry for the forest that was cut down.
3. Listen to the crying shepherds. Their powerful leaders were taken away. Listen to the roaring of the young lions. Their thick bushes near the Jordan River have all been taken away.
4. The Lord my God says, “Care for the sheep that have been raised to be killed.
5. Buyers kill their sheep and are not punished. Those who sell the sheep say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich!’ The shepherds don’t feel sorry for their sheep.
6. And I don’t feel sorry for the people who live in this country.” This is what the Lord said: “Look, I will let everyone be under the control of their neighbor and king. I will let them destroy the country—I will not stop them!”
7. So I took care of the sheep that had been raised to be killed—those poor sheep. I found two sticks. I called one stick Favor, and I called the other stick Union. Then I began caring for the sheep.
8. I fired the three shepherds all in one month. I got angry at the sheep, and they began to hate me.
9. Then I said, “I quit! I will not take care of you! I will let those who want to die, die. I will let those who want to be destroyed, be destroyed, and those who are left will destroy each other.”