1. Lebanon, open your doors! Then fire can burn up your cedar trees.
2. Pine trees, cry out! The cedar trees have fallen down. The majestic trees are destroyed. Cry out, you oak trees of Bashan! The thick forest has been cut down.
3. Listen to the shepherds cry out! Their rich grasslands are destroyed. Listen to the lions roar! The trees and bushes along the Jordan River are gone.
4. The Lord my God says, "Take care of the sheep that are set apart to be sacrificed.
5. Those who buy them kill them. And they are not punished for it. Those who sell them say, 'Praise the Lord! We're rich!' And their own shepherds do not spare them.
6. "I will no longer have pity on the people in the land," announces the Lord. "I will hand all of them over to their neighbors and their king. They will crush the people in the land. And I will not save them from their powerful hands."
7. So I took care of the sheep set apart to be sacrificed. I took special care of those that had been crushed. Then I got two shepherd's staffs. I called one of them Favor. I called the other one Union. And I took care of the flock.
8. In one month I got rid of three worthless shepherds. The sheep hated me. And I got tired of them.
9. So I said, "I won't be your shepherd anymore. Let those of you who are dying die. Let those who are passing away pass away. Let those who are left eat one another up."