Ezekiel 34; Ezekiel 35; Ezekiel 36

1 The LORD's word came to me:

2 Human one, prophesy against Israel's shepherds. Prophesy and say to them, The LORD God proclaims to the shepherds: Doom to Israel's shepherds who tended themselves! Shouldn't shepherds tend the flock?

3 You drink the milk, you wear the wool, and you slaughter the fat animals, but you don't tend the flock.

4 You don't strengthen the weak, heal the sick, bind up the injured, bring back the strays, or seek out the lost; but instead you use force to rule them with injustice.

5 Without a shepherd, my flock was scattered; and when it was scattered, it became food for all the wild animals.

6 My flock strayed on all the mountains and on every high hill throughout all the earth. My flock was scattered, and there was no one to look for them or find them.

7 So now shepherds, hear the LORD's word!

8 This is what the LORD God says: As surely as I live, without a shepherd, my flock became prey. My flock became food for all the wild animals. My shepherds didn't seek out my flock. They tended themselves, but they didn't tend my flock.

9 So, shepherds, hear the LORD's word!

10 The LORD God proclaims: I'm against the shepherds! I will hold them accountable for my flock, and I will put an end to their tending the flock. The shepherds will no longer tend them, because I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and they will no longer be their food.

11 The LORD God proclaims: I myself will search for my flock and seek them out.

12 As a shepherd seeks out the flock when some in the flock have been scattered, so will I seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered during the time of clouds and thick darkness.

13 I will gather and lead them out from the countries and peoples, and I will bring them to their own fertile land. I will feed them on Israel's highlands, along the riverbeds, and in all the inhabited places.

14 I will feed them in good pasture, and their sheepfold will be there, on Israel's lofty highlands. On Israel's highlands, they will lie down in a secure fold and feed on green pastures.

15 I myself will feed my flock and make them lie down. This is what the LORD God says.

16 I will seek out the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the wounded, and strengthen the weak. But the fat and the strong I will destroy, because I will tend my sheep with justice.

17 As for you, my flock, the LORD God proclaims: I will judge between the rams and the bucks among the sheep and the goats.

18 Is feeding in good pasture or drinking clear water such a trivial thing that you should trample and muddy what is left with your feet?

19 But now my flock must feed on what your feet have trampled and drink water that your feet have muddied.

20 So the LORD God proclaims to them: I will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.

21 You shove with shoulder and flank, and with your horns you ram all the weak sheep until you've scattered them outside.

22 But I will rescue my flock so that they will never again be prey. I will even judge between the sheep!

23 I will appoint for them a single shepherd, and he will feed them. My servant David will feed them. He will be their shepherd.

24 I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be their prince. I, the LORD, have spoken.

25 I will make a covenant of peace for them, and I will banish the wild animals from the land. Then they will safely live in the desert and sleep in the forest.

26 I will give them and those around my hill a blessing by sending the rain in its season. They will be rains of blessing.

27 The trees in the field will bear fruit, and the earth will yield its harvest. They will be safe on their fertile land, and they will know that I am the LORD when I break the bars of their yoke and deliver them from those who enslaved them.

28 The nations will no longer prey on them, and wild animals will no longer devour them. They will live in safety, with no one to trouble them.

29 I will establish for them a place famous for what it grows. No longer will they experience famine in the land, nor will they bear the disgrace of the nations.

30 They will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are my people. This is what the LORD God says.

31 You are my flock, the flock of my pasture. You are human, and I am your God. This is what the LORD God says.

1 The LORD's word came to me:

2 Human one, face Mount Seir, and prophesy against it.

3 Say to it, The LORD God proclaims: I'm against you, Mount Seir! I will use my power against you. I will make you into a desolate wasteland,

4 I will turn your cities into ruins, and you will become a desolation. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

5 Because you nursed an ancient grudge, you handed the Israelites over to the sword in the time of their distress, during their final punishment.

6 So now the LORD God proclaims: As surely as I live, I will prepare you for blood, and blood will pursue you. Because you don't hate bloodshed, bloodshed will pursue you.

7 I will turn Mount Seir into a desolate wasteland, when I cut off from it both passerby and homecomer.

8 I will fill its highlands—your hills and your valleys, and all your ravines—with its slain. Those who are slain by the sword will fall on them.

9 I will turn you into an eternal desolation. Your cities won't be inhabited, and you will know that I am the LORD.

10 You said, "These two nations and these two territories are mine. We will take possession of them even if the LORD is there."

11 Therefore, the LORD God proclaims: As surely as I live, I will act according to the anger and zeal you displayed when you dealt with them so hatefully. When I judge you, I will make myself known to them,

12 and you will know that I am the LORD. I've heard the lies and libels that you uttered against Israel's highlands when you said, "They are laid waste. They've been given to us to consume."

13 With your mouths you exalted yourselves against me and spoke your words against me. I myself heard it!

14 The LORD God proclaims: As the whole world rejoices, I will turn you into a desolation.

15 Just as you rejoiced over the house of Israel's inheritance because it became desolate, so I will deal with you. Mount Seir, you will become a desolation, with all of Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the LORD.

1 You, human one, prophesy to Israel's mountains and say, Hear the LORD's word, mountains of Israel!

2 The LORD God proclaims: The enemy mocked you and said, "The ancient heights belong to us."

3 Therefore, prophesy and say, The LORD God proclaims: When the surviving nations pressed in and ravaged you from all around to lay claim to you, you became an object of the people's slander and derision.

4 Hear the LORD God's word, mountains of Israel! The LORD God proclaims to the mountains and the hills, the watercourses and the valleys, the desolate ruins and the abandoned cities that were contemptuously looted by the surviving nations all around you.

5 So now, says the LORD God, I will speak in my fiery passion against the surviving nations and against Edom, all those who gleefully and spitefully took my land for themselves as a possession only for plunder.

6 Prophesy concerning Israel's fertile land, and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, The LORD God proclaims: Because you endured the ridicule of the nations, my passion and fury lead me to speak.

7 So now the LORD God proclaims: I myself swear that the nations round about you will themselves suffer ridicule.

8 But you, mountains of Israel, will extend your branches and bear your fruit for my people Israel, because they will come home very soon.

9 Look, I'm here for you, and I will turn toward you, and you will be farmed and sown.

10 I will populate you with human beings, the whole house of Israel, all of them. The cities will be inhabited, the ruins rebuilt.

11 When I make people and animals increase on you, they will multiply and be fruitful. I will cause you to be inhabited as you were before. I will do more good for you than in the beginning, and you will know that I am the LORD.

12 I will let people walk through you, my people Israel! They will lay claim to you, you will be their inheritance, and you will no longer deprive them of anything.

13 The LORD God proclaims: Because people say, "You are a devourer of human beings" and "You are depriving your nation,"

14 therefore, you will no longer devour human beings or deprive your nation of anything. This is what the LORD God says.

15 You won't have to listen anymore to the taunts of the nations or endure the scorn of the peoples. And you will no longer deprive your nation of anything. This is what the LORD God says.

16 The LORD's word came to me:

17 Human one, when the house of Israel lived on their fertile land, they polluted it with their ways and deeds. Their ways before me were polluted like the blood of menstruation,

18 and so I poured out my fury on them for all the blood they had poured out on the land and for all the defilement of their idols.

19 When I scattered them to the nations and dispersed them into other lands, I judged them according to their ways and deeds.

20 But then when they entered the other nations, they degraded my holy name because it was said of them, "These are the LORD's people, yet they had to leave his land."

21 So I had compassion on my holy name, which the house of Israel degraded among the nations where they had gone.

22 Therefore, say to the house of Israel, The LORD God proclaims: House of Israel, I'm not acting for your sake but for the sake of my holy name, which you degraded among the nations where you have gone.

23 I will make my great name holy, which was degraded among the nations when you dishonored it among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD. This is what the LORD God says. When I make myself holy among you in their sight,

24 I will take you from the nations, I will gather you from all the countries, and I will bring you to your own fertile land.

25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be cleansed of all your pollution. I will cleanse you of all your idols.

26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove your stony heart from your body and replace it with a living one,

27 and I will give you my spirit so that you may walk according to my regulations and carefully observe my case laws.

28 Then you will live in the land that I gave to your ancestors, you will be my people, and I will be your God.

29 I will save you from all your uncleanness, and I will summon the grain and make it grow abundantly so that you won't endure famine.

30 I will make abundant the orchards' fruit and the fields' produce so that you will never again endure the shame of famine among the nations.

31 Then you will remember your evil ways and no-good deeds, and you will feel disgust for yourselves because of your sinful and detestable practices.

32 Not for your sake do I act. This is what the LORD God proclaims. Let that be known to you! Be ashamed and be humiliated because of all your ways, house of Israel.

33 The LORD God proclaims: On the day that I cleanse you of all your guilt, I will cause the cities to be inhabited, and the ruins will be rebuilt.

34 The desolate land will be farmed, and it won't be like it was when it seemed a wasteland to all who passed by.

35 They will say, "This land, which was a desolation, has become like the garden of Eden." And the cities that were ruined, ravaged, and razed are now fortified and inhabited.

36 The surviving nations around you will know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt what was torn down and have planted what was made desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken, and I will do it.

37 The LORD God proclaims: I will also allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them: that I increase them like a human flock.

38 Like the holy flock, like the flock of Jerusalem at its festivals, the ruined cities will be filled with a human flock. Then they will know that I am the LORD.