Bible Strands
Zechariah 11:5
whose buyers slaughter them without remorse. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the LORD, for I am rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no compassion on them.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The Lord addresses Zechariah during a symbolic prophetic act to pasture a flock designated for slaughter. The oracle describes the systemic exploitation of the flock by buyers, sellers, and indifferent shepherds.
The words — יֶאְשָ֔מוּ (ye'.Sha.mu) literally means they will be held guilty, while בָּר֥וּךְ (ba.Rukh) translates as [be] blessed. These terms frame the buyers' lack of accountability and the sellers' self-congratulatory wealth.
The thread — This pattern of unrepentant exploitation and professed piety appears in Jeremiah 50:7, 1 Timothy 6:5, and Hosea 12:8. Each text tracks how spiritual or national leaders justify violence or greed while claiming divine favor.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that religious authority corrupted by greed abandons its flock. It requires readers to reject any system that profits from divine judgment or claims blessing while exercising cruelty.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 50:7 All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
- 1 Timothy 6:5 and constant friction between men of depraved mind who are devoid of the truth. These men regard godliness as a means of gain.
- Hosea 12:8 And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”
- Genesis 37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
- Deuteronomy 29:19 because when such a person hears the words of this oath, he invokes a blessing on himself, saying, ‘I will have peace, even though I walk in the stubbornness of my own heart.’ This will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry.
- 2 Kings 4:1 Now the wife of one of the sons of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant, my husband, is dead, and you know that your servant feared the LORD. And now his creditor is coming to take my two children as his slaves!”
- Nehemiah 5:8 and said, “We have done our best to buy back our Jewish brothers who were sold to foreigners, but now you are selling your own brothers, that they may be sold back to us!” But they remained silent, for they could find nothing to say.
- Jeremiah 2:3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her were found guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 23:1 “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 22:25 The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her.