Ezekiel 34

1And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

2Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, to the shepherds, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been shepherding themselves! Should not the shepherds shepherd the flock?’

3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fattened sheep, but you do not shepherd the flock.

4You have not strengthened the weak, and you have not healed the sick, and you have not bound up the broken, and you have not brought back the strayed, and you have not sought the lost; but with force and with harshness you have ruled them.

5So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field, and they were scattered.

6My sheep wandered on all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over the whole face of the earth, with no one searching or seeking for them.

7Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

8As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my flock has become plunder and my flock has become food for every wild beast of the field, since there was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not seek my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock—

9Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

10Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock from their hand, and I will stop them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer shepherd them, and I will rescue my flock from their mouth, and it will no longer be food for them.

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

12As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his sheep when they have been scattered, so I will seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

13And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the lands, and bring them into their own land; and I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

14In good pasture I will pasture them, and on the high mountains of Israel their grazing place will be. There they will lie down in a good grazing place, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

15I myself will shepherd my flock, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord Yahweh.

16I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.

17And as for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I am judging between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the male goats.

18Is it too little for you to graze on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet, and to drink clear water, that you must muddy what remains with your feet?

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

20Therefore thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

21Because you push with side and shoulder, and gore all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them outside,

22I will save my flock, and they will no longer be prey, and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

23And I will raise up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them; he himself will shepherd them, and he himself will be their shepherd.

24And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken.

25I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will remove harmful wild animals from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.

26And I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the rain in its season; they will be showers of blessing.

27The tree of the field will give its fruit, and the land will give its produce, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I break the bars of their yoke and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

28They will no longer be plunder for the nations, and the wild animals of the land will not devour them. They will dwell securely, with no one to make them afraid.

29And I will raise up for them a planting of renown, and they will no longer be consumed by famine in the land, nor will they bear the disgrace of the nations anymore.

30And they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD.

31And you, my flock, the flock of my pasture—you are men, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD.