Ezekiel 34

Chapter 34

Prophecy against the Shepherds of Israel

¹Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,

²“Son of man, prophesy against the ^ashepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to ¹those shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord ²God, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ^3bfeeding themselves! Should not the shepherds ^cfeed the flock?

³“You ^aeat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you ^bslaughter the fat sheep without ¹feeding the flock.

⁴“Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the ¹diseased you have not healed, ^athe broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^bsought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.

⁵“They were ^ascattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ^bfood for every beast of the field and were scattered.

⁶“My flock ^awandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; ^bMy flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was ^cno one to search or seek for them.” ’ ”

⁷Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

⁸“As I live,” declares the Lord God, “surely because My flock has become a ^aprey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock;

⁹therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:

¹⁰‘Thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I am ^aagainst the shepherds, and I will demand My ¹sheep ²from them and make them ^bcease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not ³feed themselves anymore, but I will ^cdeliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.” ’ ”

The Restoration of Israel

¹¹For thus says the Lord God, “Behold, I Myself will ^asearch for My sheep and seek them out.

¹²“^aAs a shepherd ¹cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered ²sheep, so I will ^bcare for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a ^ccloudy and gloomy day.

¹³“I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will ^afeed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^bstreams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

¹⁴“I will feed them in a ^agood pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in ^1brich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵“I will ^afeed My flock and I will ¹lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God.

¹⁶“I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the ^afat and the strong I will destroy. I will ^bfeed them with judgment.

¹⁷“As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will ^ajudge between one ¹sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.

¹⁸‘Is it too ^aslight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must ¹foul the rest with your feet?

¹⁹‘As for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you ¹foul with your feet!’ ”

²⁰Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

²¹“Because you push with side and with shoulder, and ^athrust at all the ¹weak with your horns until you have scattered them ²abroad,

²²therefore, I will ^adeliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

²³“Then I will ^aset over them one ^bshepherd, My servant ^cDavid, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.

²⁴“And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant ^aDavid will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.

²⁵“I will make a ^acovenant of peace with them and ^beliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may ^clive securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

²⁶“I will make them and the places around My hill a ^ablessing. And I will cause ^bshowers to come down in their season; they will be showers of ^cblessing.

²⁷“Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be ^asecure on their land. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have ^bbroken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

²⁸“They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^alive securely, and no one will make them afraid.

²⁹“I will establish for them a ^arenowned planting place, and they will ^bnot again be ¹victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^cendure the insults of the nations anymore.

³⁰“Then they will know that ^aI, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares the Lord God.

³¹“As for you, My ^asheep, the ^bsheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God,” declares the Lord God.