Albert Barnes Commentary Zechariah 11:3

"A voice of the wailing of the shepherds! for their glory is destroyed: a voice of the roaring of young lions! for the pride of the Jordan is laid waste." — Zechariah 11:3 (ASV)

A voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled - This echoes from Jeremiah before the captivity: Howl, you shepherds—a voice of the cry of the shepherds and an howling of the principal of the flock; for the Lord has spoiled their pasture (Jeremiah 25:34, 36).

There is one chorus of desolation: the mighty and the lowly; the shepherds and the young lions; what is at other times opposed is joined in one wailing. “The pride of Jordan” refers to the stately oaks on its banks, which shroud it from sight until you reach its very edges. After the captivity of the ten tribes, this area became the haunt of lions and their chief abode in Palestine, “on account of the burning heat, and the nearness of the desert, and the breadth of the vast solitude and jungles” (Jerome).

See Jeremiah 49:19; Jeremiah 50:44; 2 Kings 17:25. The lion lingered there even until the close of the 12th century (Phocas, in Reland, Palaestina, i. 274). Cyril, writing in his own time, says, “There are very many lions there, roaring horribly and striking fear into the inhabitants.”