Ezekiel 34 (New American Standard)

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 ^athose shepherds, 'Thus says the Lord ^bGOD, "Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ^c2feeding themselves! Should not the shepherds ^d3feed the flock ? 3 "You ⁴eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you ⁵slaughter the fat sheep without ^efeeding the flock. 4 "Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the ^fdiseased 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 ^gsheep ^hfrom them and make them ¹⁵cease from feeding ⁱsheep. So the shepherds will not ^jfeed 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 ^kcares for his herd in the day when he is among his scattered ^lsheep, so I will ^m19care for My ⁿsheep 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 ^o24rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. 15 "I will ²⁵feed My flock and I will ^plead 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 ^qsheep 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 ^rfoul the rest with your feet ? 19 'As for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you ^sfoul 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 ^tweak with your horns until you have scattered them ^uabroad, 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 ^vvictims 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.