Zechariah 11:5

Those who bought sheep slew them (Heb. feminine) and went unpunished. This was bad because these were female sheep, ewes, intended for breeding and not for butchering. The slayers represent the foreign rulers who took over the Israelites, persecuted them, and had not paid the full penalty for their abusive treatment of them (Genesis 12:3). Those who sold the sheep were Israel’s former rulers and leaders who, by their sins, had set the people up for divine judgment by foreigners.