Ezekiel 34

CHAPTER 34

Prophecy Against the Shepherds of Israel

¹Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

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

³“You ^aeat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you ^bsacrifice the fat sheep without shepherding the flock.

⁴“Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, and the ¹diseased you have not healed, and ^athe broken you have not bound up, and the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^bsearched for the lost; but with strength 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 seek or search for them.” ’ ”

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

⁸“As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “surely because My flock has become ^aplunder, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not seek for My flock, but rather the shepherds shepherded themselves and did not shepherd My flock;

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

¹⁰‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^aagainst the shepherds, and I will seek My flock from their hand and make them ^bcease from shepherding the flock. So the shepherds will not shepherd themselves anymore, but I will ^cdeliver My flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them.” ’ ”

Yahweh Will Shepherd His Flock

¹¹For thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I Myself will ^aseek My sheep and care for them.

¹²“^aAs a shepherd ¹cares for his herd in the day when he is among his ²sheep which are spread out, so I will ^3bcare for My ⁴sheep 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 ^ashepherd them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^bstreams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

¹⁴“I will shepherd 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 be shepherded in ^1brich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵“I will ^ashepherd My flock, and I will make them lie down,” declares Lord Yahweh.

¹⁶“I will search for 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 ^bshepherd them with judgment.

¹⁷“As for you, My flock, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘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 be shepherded 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 be shepherded on what you tread down with your feet and drink what you ¹foul with your feet!’”

²⁰Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh 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 sickly with your horns until you have scattered them ¹abroad,

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

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

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

Yahweh’s Covenant of Peace

²⁵“I will cut a ^acovenant of peace with them and ^bcause harmful beasts to cease 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 all 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 produce, and they will be ^asecure on their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, 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 plunder to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^alive securely, and no one will make them tremble.

²⁹“I will establish for them a ^1arenowned planting place, and they will ^bnot again be ²victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^cbear the dishonor of the nations anymore.

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

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