Ezekiel 34

1The word of Yahweh came to me:

2“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them, to the shepherds, ‘This is what Lord Yahweh says: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves! Should not shepherds feed the flock?

3You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fattened animals, but you do not feed the flock.

4You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bandaged the injured, you have not brought back the strays, and you have not searched for the lost. Instead you have ruled over them with force and harshness.

5So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.

6My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one looked for them or searched for them.

7Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh.

8As I live, declares Lord Yahweh, because my flock has become plunder, and my flock has become food for all the wild animals for lack of a shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my flock, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my flock,

9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh.

10This is what Lord Yahweh says: I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my flock from their hand. I will stop them from tending the flock, so that the shepherds will no longer feed themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.

11For this is what Lord Yahweh says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them.

12As a shepherd looks after his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so I will look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

13I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

14I will feed them in good pasture, and their grazing land will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and they will feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares Lord Yahweh.

16I will search for the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the sick. But the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.

17As for you, my flock, this is what Lord Yahweh says: I am going to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and male goats.

18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink clear water, that you must muddy the rest with your feet?

19And my flock must eat what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have muddied.

20Therefore this is what Lord Yahweh says to them: I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

21Because you push with side and shoulder, and butt all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them far and wide,

22I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plunder. I will judge between one sheep and another.

23I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd.

24I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, Yahweh, have spoken.

25I will make a covenant of peace with them and rid the land of dangerous animals, so that they can live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.

26I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will send down the rain in its season; there will be showers of blessing.

27The trees of the field will yield their fruit, and the land will yield its produce, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

28They will no longer be plunder for the nations, and the wild animals will not devour them. They will live securely, and no one will make them afraid.

29I will provide for them a renowned place for planting, and they will no longer be swept away by famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations anymore.

30Then they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares Lord Yahweh.

31You are my sheep, the sheep of my pasture; you are human beings, and I am your God, declares Lord Yahweh.’”