Ezekiel 34:15-28

Living Bible

^15-16 I myself will be the Shepherd of my sheep and cause them to lie down in peace,” the Lord God says. “I will seek my lost ones, those who strayed away, and bring them safely home again. I will put splints and bandages upon their broken limbs and heal the sick. And I will destroy the powerful, fat shepherds; I will feed them, yes—feed them punishment!

¹⁷ “And as for you, O my flock—my people,” the Lord God says, “I will judge you and separate good from bad, sheep from goats.

¹⁸ “Is it a small thing to you, O evil shepherds, that you not only keep the best of the pastures for yourselves, but trample down the rest? That you take the best water for yourselves and muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ All that’s left for my flock is what you’ve trampled down; all they have to drink is water that you’ve fouled.”

²⁰ Therefore the Lord God says: “I will surely judge between these fat shepherds and their scrawny sheep. ²¹ For these shepherds push and butt and crowd my sick and hungry flock until they’re scattered far away. ²² So I myself will save my flock; no more will they be picked on and destroyed. And I will notice which is plump and which is thin, and why!

²³ “And I will set one Shepherd over all my people, even my Servant David. He shall feed them and be a Shepherd to them.

²⁴ “And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my Servant David shall be a Prince among my people. I, the Lord, have spoken it.

²⁵ “I will make a peace pact with them and drive away the dangerous animals from the land, so that my people can safely camp in the wildest places and sleep safely in the woods. ²⁶ I will make my people and their homes around my hill a blessing. And there shall be showers, showers of blessing, for I will not shut off the rains but send them in their seasons. ²⁷ Their fruit trees and fields will yield bumper crops, and everyone will live in safety. When I have broken off their chains of slavery and delivered them from those who profiteered at their expense, they shall know I am the Lord. ²⁸ No more will other nations conquer them nor wild animals attack. They shall live in safety and no one shall make them afraid.