Ezekiel 34

¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

² ‘Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, “Shepherds, the Lord Yahweh says this: Trouble for the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shepherds ought to feed their flock,

³ yet you have fed on milk, you have dressed yourselves in wool, you have sacrificed the fattest sheep, but failed to feed the flock.

⁴ You have failed to make weak sheep strong, or to care for the sick ones, or bandage the wounded ones. You have failed to bring back strays or look for the lost. On the contrary, you have ruled them cruelly and violently.

⁵ For lack of a shepherd they have scattered, to become the prey of any wild animal; they have scattered far.

⁶ My flock is straying this way and that, on mountains and on high hills; my flock has been scattered all over the country; no one bothers about them and no one looks for them.

⁷ Well then, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh.

⁸ As I live, I swear it – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks – since my flock has been looted and for lack of a shepherd is now the prey of any wild animal, since my shepherds have stopped bothering about my flock, since my shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock,

⁹ in view of all this, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh.

¹⁰ The Lord Yahweh says this: I am going to call the shepherds to account. I am going to take my flock back from them and I shall not allow them to feed my flock. In this way the shepherds will stop feeding themselves. I shall rescue my sheep from their mouths; they will not prey on them any more.

¹¹ For the Lord Yahweh says this: I am going to look after my flock myself and keep all of it in view.

¹² As a shepherd keeps all his flock in view when he stands up in the middle of his scattered sheep, so shall I keep my sheep in view. I shall rescue them from wherever they have been scattered during the mist and darkness.

¹³ I shall bring them out of the countries where they are; I shall gather them together from foreign countries and bring them back to their own land. I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in every inhabited place in the land.

¹⁴ I shall feed them in good pasturage; the high mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground. There they will rest in good grazing ground; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵ I myself will pasture my sheep, I myself will show them where to rest – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.

¹⁶ I shall look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the wounded and make the weak strong. I shall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.

¹⁷ As for you, my sheep, the Lord Yahweh says this: I will judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and he-goats.

¹⁸ Not content to graze in good pastures, you trample down the rest; not content to drink clear water, you muddy the rest with your feet.

¹⁹ And my sheep must graze on what your feet have trampled, drink what your feet have muddied.

²⁰ Very well then, the Lord Yahweh says this: I myself am now about to judge between fat sheep and lean sheep.

²¹ Since you have butted all the weak sheep with your rumps and shoulders and horns, until you have chased them away,

²² I am going to come and rescue my sheep from being cheated; I will judge between sheep and sheep.

²³ I mean to raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and to put him in charge of them and he will pasture them; he will pasture them and be their shepherd.

²⁴ I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David shall be their ruler. I, Yahweh, have spoken.

²⁵ I shall make a covenant of peace with them; I shall rid the country of wild animals. They will be able to live safely in the wilderness and go to sleep in the woods.

²⁶ I shall settle them round my hill;[*a] I shall send rain at the proper time; it will be a fertile rain.

²⁷ The trees of the countryside will yield their fruit and the earth its produce; they will feel safe on their own farms. And men will learn that I am Yahweh when I break their yokestraps and release them from their captors.

²⁸ No more will they be a prey to foreign countries, no more will they be eaten by wild animals in this country. They will live without fear and no one will disturb them again.

²⁹ I shall make splendid vegetation grow for them; no more will they suffer from famine in this land; no more will they have to bear the insults of other nations.

³⁰ And men will learn that I, their God, am with them and that they, the House of Israel, are my people – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.

³¹ And you, my sheep, are the flock I shall pasture, and I am your God – it is the Lord Yahweh who speaks.”‘