Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
Parallel translations
- WEB Then I cut apart my other staff, even Union, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
- BSB Then I cut in two my second staff called Union, breaking the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
- NKJV Then I cut in two my other staff, Bonds, that I might break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
- NASB Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
- NLT Then I took my other staff, Union, and cut it in two, showing that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Shepherd breaks the second staff, 'Union,' shattering the brotherhood between Judah and Israel. It matters because rejecting the Shepherd brings not only lost favor but lost unity and fragmentation.
Overview
With Favor already broken, the snapping of Union dissolves the bond holding the covenant people together. The loss of God's grace is followed by internal disintegration and division. This double breaking shows the comprehensive cost of spurning the Shepherd; true and lasting unity among God's people is restored only in Christ, who breaks down dividing walls (Eph. 2:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 9:21Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
- Jas 3:16For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work.
- Matt 24:10And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
- Isa 11:13The envy also of Ephraim shall depart, and the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off: Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim.
- Jas 3:14But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth.
- Ezek 37:16–20Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
- Zech 11:7And I will feed the flock of slaughter, even you, O poor of the flock. And I took unto me two staves; the one I called Beauty, and the other I called Bands; and I fed the flock.
- Acts 23:7–10And when he had so said, there arose a dissension between the Pharisees and the Sadducees: and the multitude was divided.
- Gal 5:15But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
- Zech 11:9Then said I, I will not feed you: that that dieth, let it die; and that that is to be cut off, let it be cut off; and let the rest eat every one the flesh of another.
- Jas 4:1–3From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
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Christ at the center
The Branch who is both priest and king, the shepherd struck and the flock scattered, the king coming humble on a donkey, the one they pierced, the fountain opened for sin — Zechariah is dense with Christ.
How Zechariah 11:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.