Ezekiel 34:1-16

Holman Christian Standard Bible

The Shepherds and God’s Flock

34 The word of the Lord came to me: ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them: This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves!^(A) Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock? ³ You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock.^{(B) 4} You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost.^(C) Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty. ⁵ They were scattered for lack of a shepherd;^(D) they became food for all the wild animals^(E) when they were scattered. ⁶ My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill.^(F) They were scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.

⁷ “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. ⁸ As I live”—the declaration of the Lord God—“because My flock has become prey and food for every wild animal since they lack a shepherd, for My shepherds do not search for My flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than My flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!

¹⁰ “This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against the shepherds.^(G) I will demand My flock from them^[a] and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue My flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.

¹¹ “For this is what the Lord God says: See, I Myself will search for My flock and look for them. ¹² As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered^(H) on a cloudy and dark day. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will tend them with good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel’s lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will tend My flock and let them lie down.”^(I) This is the declaration of the Lord God. ¹⁶ “I will seek the lost,^(J) bring back the strays, bandage the injured,^(K) and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy^[b] the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.