^34:11“ ‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out. ^34:12As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day.⁵^34:13I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. ^34:14In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush⁶ pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel. ^34:15I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord. ^34:16I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them—with judgment!

^34:17“ ‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. ^34:18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet? ^34:19As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet!

^34:20“ ‘Therefore, this is what the sovereign Lord says to them: Look, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ^34:21Because you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad,⁷^34:22I will save my sheep; they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.

^34:23I will set one shepherd over them, and he will feed them—namely, my servant David.⁸ He will feed them and will be their shepherd. ^34:24I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince⁹ among them; I, the Lord, have spoken!

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Ezekiel 34:11: ...For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

Footnotes

5 The imagery may reflect the overthrow of the Israelites by the Babylonians in 587/6 b.c.
6 Heb “good.”
7 Heb “outside.”
8 The messianic king is here called “David” (see Jer 30:9 and Hos 3:5, as well as Isa 11:1 and Mic 5:2) because he will fulfill the Davidic royal ideal depicted in the prophets and royal psalms (see Ps 2, 89).
9 The messianic king (“David”) is called both “king” and “prince” in 37:24–25. The use of the term “prince” for this king facilitates the contrast between this ideal ruler and the Davidic “princes” denounced in earlier prophecies (see 7:27; 12:10, 12; 19:1; 21:25; 22:6, 25).