Book of Zechariah, ch. 11
1 Open your gateways, Lebanon, and the fire shall burn down your cedar trees!
2 Wail, juniper, for the cedar tree has fallen, the majestic ones have been ravaged! Wail, oaks of Bashan, for the impenetrable forest has been felled!
3 The sound of the wailing of shepherds! Their majesty has been ravaged. The sound of the roaring of young lions! The pride of the Jordan has been ravaged.
4 Yahweh my God says this, 'Pasture the sheep for slaughter,
5 whose buyers kill them and go unpunished, whose sellers say of them, "Blessed be Yahweh; now I am rich!" and whose own shepherds show them no pity.
6 For I shall show no further pity for the inhabitants of the country -- Yahweh declares! Instead, I shall put everyone into the clutches of a neighbour, into the clutches of the king. They will crush the country and I shall not rescue anyone from their clutches.'
7 Then I pastured for slaughter the sheep belonging to the sheep-dealers. I took two staves: the one I called 'Goodwill', the other 'Couplers'; and I pastured the sheep myself,
8 getting rid of three shepherds in one month. But I lost patience with them, and they equally detested me.
9 I then said, 'I am not going to pasture you any more; the one doomed to die can die; the one doomed to perish can perish; and the rest can devour one another.'
10 I then took my staff, 'Goodwill', and broke it in half, to break my covenant, which I had made with all the peoples.
11 When it was broken, that day the sheep-dealers, who were watching me, realised that this had been a word of Yahweh.
12 I then said to them, 'If you see fit, give me my wages; if not, never mind.' So they weighed out my wages: thirty shekels of silver.
13 Yahweh said to me, 'Throw it to the smelter, this princely sum at which they have valued me!' Taking the thirty shekels of silver, I threw them into the Temple of Yahweh, for the smelter.
14 I then broke my second staff, 'Couplers,' in half, to rupture the brotherly relationship between Judah and Israel.
15 Next, Yahweh said to me, 'This time, take the gear of a good-for-nothing shepherd.
16 For I am now going to raise a shepherd in this country, who will not bother about the lost, who will not go in search of the stray, who will not heal the injured, who will not support the swollen, but who will eat the meat of the fat ones, tearing off their very hoofs.
17 Disaster to the shepherd who deserts his flock! May the sword attack his arm and his right eye! May his arm shrivel completely and his right eye be totally blinded!"
Book of Malachi, ch. 2
1 'And now, priests, this commandment is for you.
2 If you will not listen, if you will not sincerely resolve to glorify my name, says Yahweh Sabaoth, I shall certainly lay a curse on you and I shall curse your blessing. Indeed I will lay a curse, for none of you makes this resolve.
3 Now, I am going to break your arm and throw offal in your faces -- the offal of your solemn feasts -- and sweep you away with it.
4 Then you will know that I sent this commandment to you, to affirm my intention to maintain my covenant with Levi, says Yahweh Sabaoth.
5 My covenant was with him -- a covenant of life and peace, and these were what I gave him -- a covenant of respect, and he respected me and held my name in awe.
6 The law of truth was in his mouth and guilt was not found on his lips; he walked in peace and justice with me and he converted many from sinning.
7 The priest's lips ought to safeguard knowledge; his mouth is where the law should be sought, since he is Yahweh Sabaoth's messenger.
8 But you yourselves have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to lapse by your teaching. Since you have destroyed the covenant of Levi, says Yahweh Sabaoth,
9 so I in my turn have made you contemptible and vile to the whole people, for not having kept my ways and for being partial in applying the law.
The principle of action of the curse
Book of Malachi, ch. 3
5 I am coming to put you on trial and I shall be a ready witness against sorcerers, adulterers, perjurers, and against those who oppress the wage-earner, the widow and the orphan, and who rob the foreigner of his rights and do not respect me, says Yahweh Sabaoth.
6 'No; I, Yahweh, do not change; and you have not ceased to be children of Jacob!
7 Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have evaded my statutes and not observed them. Return to me and I will return to you, says Yahweh Sabaoth. You ask, "How are we to return?
8 Can a human being cheat God?" Yet you try to cheat me! You ask, "How do we try to cheat you?" Over tithes and contributions.
9 A curse lies on you because you, this whole nation, try to cheat me.
10 Bring the tithes in full to the treasury, so that there is food in my house; put me to the test now like this, says Yahweh Sabaoth, and see if I do not open the floodgates of heaven for you and pour out an abundant blessing for you.
11 For your sakes, I shall forbid the locust to destroy the produce of your soil or prevent the vine from bearing fruit in your field, says Yahweh Sabaoth,
12 and all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delights, says Yahweh Sabaoth.
Book of Hosea, ch.4
6 My people perish for want of knowledge. Since you yourself have rejected knowledge, so I shall reject you from my priesthood; since you have forgotten the teaching of your God, I in my turn shall forget your children.
