Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to 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.
- KJV Then I cut asunder mine other staff, even Bands, 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.
- 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 jealousy and selfish ambition are, there is confusion and every evil deed.
- Matt 24:10Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another.
- Isa 11:13The envy also of Ephraim will depart, and those who persecute Judah will be cut off. Ephraim won’t envy Judah, and Judah won’t persecute Ephraim.
- Jas 3:14But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, don’t boast and don’t lie against the truth.
- Ezek 37:16–20You, son of man, take one stick, and write on it, For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel his companions:
- Zech 11:7So 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.
- Acts 23:7–10When he had said this, an argument arose between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the crowd was divided.
- Gal 5:15But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you don’t consume one another.
- Zech 11:9Then 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.”
- Jas 4:1–3Where do wars and fightings among you come from? Don’t they come from your pleasures that war in your members?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.