Ezekiel 34:11–24

¹¹“ ‘For this is what the Lord God says: See, I myself will search for my flock and look for them. ¹²As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scatteredⁱ on a day of clouds and total darkness. ¹³I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own soil. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴I will tend them in good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel’s lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵I will tend my flock and let them lie down.^j This is the declaration of the Lord God. ¹⁶I will seek the lost,^k bring back the strays, bandage the injured,^l and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy^C the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.

¹⁷“ ‘As for you, my flock, the Lord God says this: Look, I am going to judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and goats.^{m 18}Isn’t it enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Or isn’t it enough that you drink the clear water? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹Yet my flock has to feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied.

²⁰“ ‘Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: See, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹Since you have pushed with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns until you scattered them all over, ²²I will save my flock. They will no longer be prey, and I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³I will establish over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.^{n 24}I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David^o will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.