2 Weep and wail, cypress trees —the cedars have fallen;those glorious trees have been destroyed!Weep and wail, oaks of Bashan —the dense forest has been cut down!
3 The rulers cry out in grief;their glory is gone!Listen to the roaring of the lions;their forest home along the Jordan is destroyed!
4 The Lord my God said to me, “Act the part of the shepherd of a flock of sheep that are going to be butchered.
5 Their owners kill them and go unpunished. They sell the meat and say, ‘Praise the Lord! We are rich!’ Even their own shepherds have no pity on them.”
6 (The Lord said, “I will no longer pity anyone on earth. I myself will put all the people in the power of their rulers. Those rulers will devastate the earth, and I will not save it from their power.”)
7 Those who bought and sold the sheep hired me, and I became the shepherd of the sheep that were going to be butchered. I took two sticks: one I called “Favour”, and the other “Unity”. And I took care of the flock.
8 I lost patience with three other shepherds, who hated me, and I got rid of them all in a single month.