Link to this page

https://gebible.app/messianic-prophecies/catalog/zechariah-11-8-335

Messianic Prophecies

Zechariah 11:8

This passage comes from the wider catalog — a broader, more lightly curated list than the core set. Both readings are shown as peers; GEBible takes no side.

Show this passage in

WEB

Zechariah 11:8

I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me.

Read in context

Show the surrounding verses

So I fed the flock of slaughter, especially the oppressed of the flock. I took for myself two staffs. The one I called “Favor”, and the other I called “Union”, and I fed the flock. I cut off the three shepherds in one month; for my soul was weary of them, and their soul also loathed me. Then I said, “I will not feed you. That which dies, let it die; and that which is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let those who are left eat each other’s flesh.” I took my staff Favor, and cut it apart, that I might break my covenant that I had made with all the peoples. It was broken in that day; and thus the poor of the flock that listened to me knew that it was Yahweh’s word. I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver. Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!” I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in Yahweh’s house. Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

The counter-reading

How this passage is read within its own context.

The critical reading notes that the single verse Zechariah 11:8 is applied to more than one proposed messianic fulfillment, its one mutual-rejection dynamic divided so that the 'despised' facet is read as a prophecy distinct from the broader hostility between shepherd and flock. It observes that the verse describes a single relational breakdown in which the shepherd grows impatient with the flock and the flock in turn detests the shepherd, two sides of one event rather than two events. It further notes a tension in the christological reading, since attributing the shepherd's impatience and contempt to Jesus sits awkwardly against the compassionate-shepherd portrait. Matthew 27:20 does not quote Zechariah 11:8.

The fulfillment reading

How this passage is read as pointing to the Messiah.

On the messianic-fulfillment reading, Zechariah 11:8 records the flock detesting the shepherd, the 'despised' dimension of the relationship breakdown. Read christologically, Matthew 27:20 enacts that contempt when the chief priests and elders persuade the crowd to demand Barabbas instead of Jesus. Proponents treat the people's rejection of the shepherd as a prophetic element distinct from the shepherd's rejection of the leaders, yielding a comprehensive portrait of the breakdown the Passion narratives display. On this view the Barabbas choice specifically answers the 'despised' facet of the verse.

How the New Testament uses this passage

Each entry names how the New Testament author draws on the passage — a direct quotation, an allusion, an echo, or a typological reading. An echo or an allusion is not the same as a prediction; the label says which is which.

  • Matthew 27:20 Not cited by the New Testament

    Matthew 27:20 (the crowd persuaded toward Barabbas) makes no quotation of or verbal allusion to Zechariah 11:8; the connection is a thematic 'despised/rejected' motif only.