11:10 Unlike Ezekiel, who dramatized the reunification of the Hebrew kingdoms (Ezek 37:15-19), Zechariah dramatized the division by cutting the staffs in two (see also Zech 11:14). The cutting of the staffs indicated the broken covenant bond between God and his people (11:11) and the broken bond of unity between the kingdoms of Judah and Israel (11:14). • A covenant between the Lord and all the nations is otherwise unknown. Zechariah might actually have been proclaiming the dissolution of the covenant binding Israel to God as his people (cp. Hos 1:6-9; see study note on Zech 13:9).

11:13 to the potter: Some scholars speculate that a guild of potters might have been minor Temple officials due to the continual need for sacred vessels (see Lev 6:28). Others, noting the similarity between potter (Hebrew yotser) and treasury (’otsar), follow the Syriac version, which reads into the treasury (see Matt 27:6, 10; cp. Jer 32:6-9). The Greek Old Testament translates this sentence as “throw it into the furnace,” suggesting that the silver was melted down and recast into a silver vessel for use in Temple rituals. • Thirty coins (or pieces of silver) was a magnificent sum of money (nearly two years’ wages for the average laborer).