The Righteous Branch

23 “Woe to the shepherdss who are destroying and scatteringt the sheep of my pasture!”u declares the Lord. 2 Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to the shepherdsv who tend my people: “Because you have scattered my flockw and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evilx you have done,” declares the Lord. 3 “I myself will gather the remnanty of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture,z where they will be fruitful and increase in number. 4 I will place shepherdsa over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraidb or terrified, nor will any be missing,c” declares the Lord.

5 “The days are coming,” declares the Lord,

“when I will raise up for Davida a righteous Branch,d

a Kinge who will reignf wisely

and do what is just and rightg in the land.

6 In his days Judah will be saved

and Israel will live in safety.h

This is the namei by which he will be called:

The Lord Our Righteous Savior.j

7 “So then, the days are coming,”k declares the Lord, “when people will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,’l 8 but they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.’ Then they will live in their own land.”m