Zechariah 11 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 11:7, 11:11, 11:13, 11:14
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 11
The rejected shepherd and the broken staffs
Verse 11:1 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:1 Open your doors, Lebanon, so that fire may devour your cedars!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:1 Open your doors, Lebanon, and let fire devour your cedars!
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Lebanon's opening doors and burning cedars agree.
Verse 11:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:2 Wail, cypress, for the cedar has fallen, for the majestic ones have been devastated! Wail, Bashan's oaks, for the dense forest has come down!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:2 Let the pine wail, for the cedar has fallen, because the mighty have suffered greatly! Wail, Bashan's oaks, for the thick-grown forest has been torn down!
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew berosh is provisionally cypress against Greek pitys, pine. The cedar, mighty ones, oaks and fallen dense forest correspond; precise botanical identification remains a review issue.
Verse 11:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:3 A sound of shepherds wailing, for their splendor has been devastated! A sound of young lions roaring, for the Jordan's pride has been devastated!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:3 A sound of shepherds lamenting, for their greatness has suffered! A sound of lions roaring, for the Jordan's proud swelling has suffered!
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Shepherds' lament and lions' roar answer ruined splendor in both. Hebrew specifically says young lions; Greek's phryagma emphasizes proud swelling or rage.
Verse 11:4 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:4 Thus says YHWH my God: “Shepherd the flock destined for slaughter,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:4 Thus says the Lord Almighty: “Shepherd the sheep destined for slaughter,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew addresses one shepherd and calls God my God; Greek commands shepherding plurally and uses Almighty. The threatened flock agrees.
Verse 11:5 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:5 whose buyers slaughter them and incur no guilt, whose sellers say, ‘Blessed be YHWH; I have become rich!’ Their shepherds have no compassion on them.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:5 which their buyers were slaughtering without regret; their sellers said, ‘Blessed be the Lord; we have become rich!’ Their shepherds felt nothing for them.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew not incurring guilt becomes Greek not regretting, and the seller's singular I becomes plural we. Both condemn profitable slaughter and unfeeling shepherding, but legal guilt and remorse remain distinct.
Verse 11:6 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:6 For I will no longer have compassion on the land's residents, declares YHWH. Look, I am handing over humanity, each into his neighbor's hand and his king's hand. They will crush the land, and I will not rescue anyone from their hand.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:6 Therefore I will no longer spare the land's residents, says the Lord. Look, I am handing over human beings, each into his neighbor's hands and his king's hands. They will cut the land to pieces, and I will certainly not rescue from their hand.”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both relinquish protection, hand people to neighbors and kings, and announce devastation without rescue. No identity of the king is inserted.
Verse 11:7 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:7 I shepherded the flock destined for slaughter, therefore the afflicted of the flock. I took two staffs: I called one Pleasantness and the other Bonds, and I shepherded the flock.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:7 I will shepherd the sheep destined for slaughter into Canaan's land. I will take two staffs for myself—I called one Beauty and the other Measuring Cord—and I will shepherd the sheep.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew's difficult lakhen aniyye is retained as therefore the afflicted; Greek instead names Canaan as the shepherding destination. Greek has future narration around past staff-naming, and the staffs' titles differ in imagery. The Hebrew clause is not emended to a Canaanite or merchant reading. Rabbinic: Rashi construes the speaker as God recalling earlier care and relates the two staffs to the divided kingdoms under Jeroboam and Rehoboam. This historical reading is distinguished from the enacted shepherd narrative [RASHI-ZEC11].
Verse 11:8 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:8 I removed the three shepherds in one month. I grew impatient with them, and they too loathed me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:8 I will remove the three shepherds in one month. My soul will be burdened over them, for their souls also roared against me.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The three shepherds and one month agree. Hebrew impatience and mutual loathing become Greek burden and roaring, with the removal future. No speculative historical identities are supplied.
Verse 11:9 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:9 I said, “I will not shepherd you. Let the dying die, and let the perishing perish; let those remaining eat one another's flesh.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:9 I said, “I will not shepherd you. Let the dying die, and let the failing fail; let those remaining each devour his neighbor's flesh.”
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both withdraw care and preserve the severe dying, perishing and mutual-consumption language.
Verse 11:10 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:10 I took my staff Pleasantness and cut it apart, to break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:10 I will take my beautiful staff and throw it away, to dissolve my covenant that I made with all the peoples.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew cuts the named staff apart; Greek throws away the beautiful staff and narrates it as future. Both connect the act with the covenant's dissolution among all peoples.
Verse 11:11 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:11 It was broken on that day, and so the afflicted of the flock who watched me knew that it was YHWH's word.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:11 It will be dissolved on that day, and the Canaanites—the sheep being guarded—will know that it is the Lord's word.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew afflicted sheep watching the speaker become Greek Canaanites described, on the retained appositional reading, as guarded sheep. Greek also shifts recognition and dissolution to the future. Its unusual apposition remains provisional rather than conformed to Hebrew.
Verse 11:12 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:12 I said to them, “If it is good in your eyes, give my wages; if not, refrain.” They weighed out my wages: thirty in silver.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:12 I will say to them, “If it is good before you, weigh out and give my wages, or refuse.” They weighed out my wages: thirty silver pieces.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The offer, refusal option and payment of thirty agree. Greek explicitly includes weighing in the request and makes speaking future. Neither text names a denomination here; no shekels or later coins are supplied.
Verse 11:13 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:13 YHWH said to me, “Throw it to the potter—the splendid price at which I was valued by them!” I took the thirty in silver and threw it into YHWH's house, to the potter.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:13 The Lord said to me, “Put them into the smelting furnace and examine whether it is approved, as I was tested on their behalf.” I took the thirty silver pieces and threw them into the Lord's house, into the smelting furnace.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew potter and the ironically splendid valuation become Greek furnace and testing for approval. The silver and divine house agree, but the recipient and the stated assessment differ. Hebrew hayyotser is retained as potter, without adopting an unread treasury variant. New Testament reception: Matthew 27:3–10 recounts Judas’ returned silver, its placement in the Temple and purchase of a potter’s field. Matthew explicitly attributes its quotation to Jeremiah; its combined thirty-silver and potter-field wording is neither substituted for this Hebrew verse nor used to replace the Greek smelting furnace [NT-MAT27].
Verse 11:14 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:14 I cut apart my second staff, Bonds, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:14 I threw away the second staff, Measuring Cord, to dissolve the possession between Judah and Israel.
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Hebrew breaking brotherhood becomes Greek dissolving possession or holding. Cutting the Bonds staff differs from discarding Measuring Cord; the nature of what unites Judah and Israel changes.
Verse 11:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:15 YHWH said to me, “Take again for yourself the equipment of a foolish shepherd.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:15 The Lord said to me, “Take again for yourself the shepherding equipment of an inexperienced shepherd.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew foolishness becomes Greek inexperience; both commission another shepherding sign.
Verse 11:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:16 Look, I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will not attend to the perishing, seek the young, heal the broken or sustain those standing. He will eat the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hooves.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:16 Look, I am raising up a shepherd over the land: he will certainly not attend to what is failing, seek what is scattered, heal what is broken or guide what is whole. He will devour the flesh of the choice ones and wrench their ankle bones.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew young sheep become Greek scattered sheep, sustaining those standing becomes guiding the whole, and hooves become ankle bones. The same predatory neglect is depicted. Hebrew hanaar, here the young, remains lexically uncertain and is not silently changed to straying.
Verse 11:17 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
11:17 Woe to the worthless shepherd who abandons the flock! A sword against his arm and his right eye! His arm will utterly wither, and his right eye will grow completely dim.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
11:17 Oh, you who shepherd worthless things and have abandoned the sheep! A sword against his arms and his right eye! His arm will utterly wither, and his right eye will be completely blinded.”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew a worthless shepherd becomes Greek plural shepherds of worthless things, followed by singular his. Greek first names arms plurally and explicitly blindness; Hebrew arm and dimming remain distinct. Both retain the severe judgment and emphatic repetition.