Ezekiel 34

Prophecy against the Shepherds of Israel

1 Then the word of the LORD came to me saying,

2 "Son of man, prophesy against the ¹shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ²feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds ³feed the flock?

3 "You ⁴eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you ⁵slaughter the fat sheep without feeding the flock.

4 "Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, ⁶the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ⁷sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them.

5 "They were ⁸scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ⁹food for every beast of the field and were scattered.

6 "My flock ¹⁰wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; ¹¹My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was ¹²no one to search or seek for them.""'

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

8 "As I live," declares the Lord GOD, "surely * because My flock has become a ¹³prey, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock;

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

10 'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I am ¹⁴against the shepherds, and I will demand My sheep from them and make them ¹⁵cease from feeding sheep. So the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore, but I will ¹⁶deliver My flock from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.""'

The Restoration of Israel

11 For thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I Myself will ¹⁷search for My sheep and seek them out.

12 "¹⁸As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will ¹⁹care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a ²⁰cloudy 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 ²¹feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ²²streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

14 "I will feed them in a ²³good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and feed in ²⁴rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

15 "I will ²⁵feed My flock and I will lead them to rest," declares the Lord GOD.

16 "I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken and strengthen the sick; but the ²⁶fat and the strong I will destroy. I will ²⁷feed them with judgment.

17 "As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I will ²⁸judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.

18 'Is it too ²⁹slight a thing for you that you should feed 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 foul the rest with your feet?

19 'As for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you foul with your feet!' "

20 Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD 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 ³⁰thrust at all the weak with your horns until * you have scattered them abroad,

22 therefore, I will ³¹deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

23 "Then I will ³²set over them one ³³shepherd, My servant ³⁴David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.

24 "And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant ³⁵David will be prince among them; I the LORD have spoken.

25 "I will make a ³⁶covenant of peace with them and ³⁷eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may ³⁸live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

26 "I will make them and the places around My hill a ³⁹blessing. And I will cause ⁴⁰showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of ⁴¹blessing.

27 "Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be ⁴²secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have ⁴³broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

28 "They will no longer be a prey to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will ⁴⁴live securely, and no one will make them afraid.

29 "I will establish for them a ⁴⁵renowned planting place, and they will ⁴⁶not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not ⁴⁷endure the insults of the nations anymore.

30 "Then they will know that ⁴⁸I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people," declares the Lord GOD.

31 "As for you, My ⁴⁹sheep, the ⁵⁰sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God," declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 34 Commentary

Chapter 34

The rulers reproved. (1-6) The people are to be restored to their own land. (7-16) The kingdom of Christ. (17-31)

Verses 1-6 The people became as sheep without a shepherd, were given up as a prey to their enemies, and the land was utterly desolated. No rank or office can exempt from the reproofs of God's word, men who neglect their duty, and abuse the trust reposed in them.

Verses 7-16 The Lord declared that he intended mercy towards the scattered flock. Doubtless this, in the first place, had reference to the restoration of the Jews. It also represented the good Shepherd's tender care of the souls of his people. He finds them in their days of darkness and ignorance, and brings them to his fold. He comes to their relief in times of persecution and temptation. He leads them in the ways of righteousness, and causes them to rest on his love and faithfulness. The proud and self-sufficient, are enemies of the true gospel and of believers; against such we must guard. He has rest for disquieted saints, and terror for presumptuous sinners.

Verses 17-31 The whole nation seemed to be the Lord's flock, yet they were very different characters; but he knew how to distinguish between them. By good pastures and deep waters, are meant the pure word of God and the dispensing of justice. The latter verses, ( 23-31 ) , prophesy of Christ, and of the most glorious times of his church on earth. Under Him, as the good Shepherd, the church would be a blessing to all around. Christ, though excellent in himself, was as a tender plant out of a dry ground. Being the Tree of life, bearing all the fruits of salvation, he yields spiritual food to the souls of his people. Our constant desire and prayer should be, that there may be showers of blessings in every place where the truth of Christ is preached; and that all who profess the gospel may be filled with fruits of righteousness.

Cross References

• 1. Jeremiah 2:8; Jeremiah 3:15; Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 12:10
• 2. Jeremiah 23:1; Ezekiel 22:25; Ezekiel 34:8-10; Mic 3:1-3, 11
• 3. Psalms 78:71, 72; Isaiah 40:11; Ezekiel 34:14, 15; John 10:11; John 21:15-17
• 4. Zechariah 11:16
• 5. Ezekiel 22:25, 27
• 6. Zechariah 11:16
• 7. Matthew 9:36; Matthew 10:6; Matthew 18:12, 13; Luke 15:4
• 8. Numbers 27:17; 2 Chronicles 18:16; Jeremiah 10:21; Jeremiah 23:2; Jeremiah 50:6, 7; Matthew 9:36; Mark 6:34
• 9. Ezekiel 34:8, 28
• 10. Jeremiah 40:11, 12; Ezekiel 7:16; 1 Peter 2:25
• 11. John 10:16
• 12. Psalms 142:4
• 13. Acts 20:29
• 14. Jeremiah 21:13; Ezekiel 5:8; Ezekiel 13:8; Ezekiel 34:2; Zechariah 10:3
• 15. 1 Samuel 2:29, 30; Jeremiah 52:24-27
• 16. Psalms 72:12-14; Ezekiel 13:23
• 17. Ezekiel 11:17; Ezekiel 20:41
• 18. Jeremiah 31:10
• 19. Isaiah 40:11; Isaiah 56:8; Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 31:8; Luke 19:10; John 10:16
• 20. Jeremiah 13:16; Ezekiel 30:3; Joel 2:2
• 21. Ezekiel 34:23; Ezekiel 36:29, 30; Micah 7:14
• 22. Isaiah 30:25
• 23. Psalms 23:2; Jer 31:12-14, 25; John 10:9
• 24. Ezekiel 28:25, 26; Ezekiel 36:29, 30
• 25. Psalms 23:1, 2; Ezekiel 34:23
• 26. Isaiah 10:16
• 27. Isaiah 49:26
• 28. Ezekiel 20:38; Ezekiel 34:20-22; Malachi 4:1; Matthew 25:32
• 29. Numbers 16:9, 13; 2 Samuel 7:19; Isaiah 7:13
• 30. Deuteronomy 33:17; Daniel 8:4; Luke 13:14-16
• 31. Psalms 72:12-14; Jeremiah 23:3; Ezekiel 34:10
• 32. Revelation 7:17
• 33. Isaiah 40:11; John 10:11
• 34. Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 37:24
• 35. Isaiah 55:3; Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 37:24, 25; Hosea 3:5
• 36. Ezekiel 16:60; Ezekiel 20:37; Ezekiel 37:26
• 37. Job 5:22, 23; Isaiah 11:6-9
• 38. Jeremiah 33:16; Ezekiel 28:26; Ezekiel 34:27, 28
• 39. Genesis 12:2; Ezekiel 34:14
• 40. Deuteronomy 11:13-15; Deuteronomy 28:12
• 41. Leviticus 25:21; Isaiah 44:3
• 42. Ezekiel 38:8, 11
• 43. Leviticus 26:13; Isaiah 52:2, 3; Jeremiah 30:8
• 44. Jeremiah 30:10; Ezekiel 39:26
• 45. Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 60:21; Isaiah 61:3
• 46. Ezekiel 34:26, 27; Ezekiel 36:29
• 47. Ezekiel 36:6, 15
• 48. Psalms 46:7, 11; Ezekiel 14:11; Ezekiel 36:28
• 49. Psalms 78:52; Psalms 80:1; Ezekiel 36:38
• 50. Psalms 100:3; Jeremiah 23:1

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "them, the shepherds"
• [b]. Heb "YHWH," usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch
• [c]. Lit "pasturing, pasture"
• [d]. Lit "pasturing, pasture"
• [e]. Lit "pasturing"
• [f]. Lit "sick"
• [g]. Or (a) "flock"
• [h]. Lit "from their hand"
• [i]. Or (a) "flock"
• [j]. Lit "pasture," and so throughout the ch
• [k]. Or "seek(s) out"
• [l]. Or "flock"
• [m]. Or "seek(s) out"
• [n]. Or "flock"
• [o]. Lit "fat"
• [p]. Lit "cause them to lie down"
• [q]. Or "lamb"
• [r]. Lit "foul by trampling"
• [s]. Lit "foul by trampling"
• [t]. Or "sick"
• [u]. Lit "to the outside"
• [v]. Lit "those gathered"

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO EZEKIEL 34

In the former chapter the prophet prophesies against the people of the Jews, both those of the captivity, and those who were not; and here against the shepherds of Israel. This he is bid to do, Eze 34:1,2, whose cruelty to the flock, negligence and unfaithfulness are exposed, Eze 34:3-6, for which reasons they are threatened to be deprived of their office, Eze 34:7-10, and the Lord promises to take the care of the flock upon himself, to seek out his sheep, and feed them, and do every kind office to them, Eze 34:11-16 and then the strong of the flock, that oppressed the weak, are threatened with punishment, Eze 34:17-22 and the promise of the Messiah, as the shepherd of the flock, is made, under whom all prosperity and happiness might be expected, Eze 34:23-31.