Ezekiel 34:13-31

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 ¹feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ²streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

14 "I will feed them in a ³good 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 ⁴rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

15 "I will ⁵feed 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 ⁶fat and the strong I will destroy. I will ⁷feed them with judgment.

17 "As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Behold, I will ⁸judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.

18 'Is it too ⁹slight 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 ¹⁰thrust at all the weak with your horns until * you have scattered them abroad,

22 therefore, I will ¹¹deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

23 "Then I will ¹²set over them one ¹³shepherd, My servant ¹⁴David, 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 ¹⁵David will be prince among them; I the LORD have spoken.

25 "I will make a ¹⁶covenant of peace with them and ¹⁷eliminate harmful beasts from the land so that they may ¹⁸live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

26 "I will make them and the places around My hill a ¹⁹blessing. And I will cause ²⁰showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of ²¹blessing.

27 "Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be ²²secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have ²³broken 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 ²⁴live securely, and no one will make them afraid.

29 "I will establish for them a ²⁵renowned planting place, and they will ²⁶not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not ²⁷endure the insults of the nations anymore.

30 "Then they will know that ²⁸I, 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 ²⁹sheep, the ³⁰sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God," declares the Lord GOD.

Ezekiel 34:13-31 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Cross References

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

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "fat"
• [b] Lit "cause them to lie down"
• [c] Or "lamb"
• [d] Lit "foul by trampling"
• [e] Lit "foul by trampling"
• [f] Or "sick"
• [g] Lit "to the outside"
• [h] Lit "those gathered"