Ezekiel 34

VIN^{(i) 1} The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to them, to the shepherds, So says the Sovereign LORD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who are feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? ³ You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you kill the fat ones, but you do not feed the flock. ⁴ "'"You have not strengthened those that were weak, healed those who were sick, or bandaged those who were injured. You have not brought back those who strayed away or looked for those who were lost. You have ruled them harshly and violently. ⁵ And they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, and were scattered. ⁶ "'"My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. They were scattered throughout the entire earth. No one searched or looked for them. ⁷ "'"Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ⁸ '"As I am alive, declares the Sovereign LORD, because there is no shepherd, my sheep have become prey. My sheep have become food for wild animals. My shepherds have not searched for my sheep. They have taken care of only themselves, not my sheep."' ⁹ therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the LORD, ¹⁰ 'Thus says the Sovereign LORD: "Look! I am against the shepherds, and I will seek my flock from their hand, and I will put an end to them from shepherding flocks, and the shepherds will no longer feed themselves, and I will deliver my flocks from their mouth, so that they will not be as food for them." ¹¹ For so says the Sovereign LORD: Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks his flock in the day that he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out My sheep and will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered in a day of cloud and thick cloud. ¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples, and I will gather them from the countries, and I will bring them to their soil, and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys, and in all of the settlements of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them in good pasture. On the lofty mountain of Israel shall be their folds; there they shall lie down and rest there in luxurious ease, and be fed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will feed My sheep, and I will make them lie down, declares the Sovereign LORD. ¹⁶ "I will seek the lost. I will bring back the scattered. I will bind up the broken and strengthen the sick. The fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with judgment." ¹⁷ "'As for you, my sheep, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: "I will judge disputes between one sheep and another, between rams and male goats. ¹⁸ "'Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? You drink clean water. Must you muddy the rest of the water with your feet? ¹⁹ "'Must my sheep eat what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have muddied?" ²⁰ Therefore thus says the Sovereign LORD to them: Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad; ²² And so I will save my flock, and they will no longer be for plunder, and I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ "'I will place one shepherd over them, my servant David. He will take care of them. He will take care of them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them;" I, the LORD, have spoken it. ²⁵ And I will make a covenant of peace with them, and will send the evil beasts out of the land. And they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ And I will make them a blessing round about my hill: and I will send down the rain in its season, there shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them. ²⁸ "'"They will no longer be prey to the nations. Wild animals will no longer eat them. They will live safely, and no one will frighten them. ²⁹ And I will raise for them a garden plot of renown, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land, and they will not bear any more the insult of the nations. ³⁰ They will know that I, the LORD, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Sovereign LORD. ³¹ You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,' says the Sovereign LORD.”