Zechariah 11:1–3

Open your doors, O Lebanon, 

so that fire may devour your cedars!

2  Wail, O pine tree, for the cedar has fallen;

the stately trees are ruined! Wail, oaks of Bashan;

the dense forest has been cut down!

3  Listen to the wail of the shepherds;

their rich pastures are destroyed!

Listen to the roar of the lions;

the lush thicket of the Jordan is ruined!

The oracle that began in verse 1 of chapter 9 now closes in the first three verses of chapter 11. It is a picture painted in natural things—cedars, pine trees, oaks, forest pastures, lions, and thickets. “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands,” the psalmist said (Psalm 19:1).

Here the creation is called to lament the coming judgment of God. “We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time” (Romans 8:22).