Ezekiel 34:16–27

16 fI will seek the lost, gand I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and hthe fat and the strong I will destroy.1 I will feed them in justice.

17 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: iBehold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and jmale goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of kclear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

20 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and lthrust at all the mweak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue2 my flock; nthey shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And oI will set up over them one shepherd, pmy servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And qI, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. rI am the Lord; I have spoken.

The Lord’s Covenant of Peace

25 s“I will make with them a covenant of peace and tbanish wild beasts from the land, uso that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill va blessing, and wI will send down the showers in their season; they shall be xshowers of blessing. 27 yAnd the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, uand they shall be secure in their land. And zthey shall know that I am the Lord, when aI break the bars of their yoke, and adeliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.