¹⁷ When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd,^[a] have done wrong. These are but sheep.^(A) What have they done?^(B) Let your hand fall on me and my family.”^(C)

Psalm 74

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

¹⁶ David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand extended over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown.^(A)

¹⁷ David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd,^[a] have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep.^(B) What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family,^(C) but do not let this plague remain on your people.”

¹⁰ David was conscience-stricken^(A) after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned^(B) greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.^(C)”

²³ I will place over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will tend^(A) them; he will tend them and be their shepherd.^{(B) 24} I the Lord will be their God,^(C) and my servant David^(D) will be prince among them.^(E) I the Lord have spoken.^(F)

²⁴ “He himself bore our sins”^(A) in his body on the cross,^(B) so that we might die to sins^(C) and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.”^{(D) 25} For “you were like sheep going astray,”^[a](E) but now you have returned to the Shepherd^(F) and Overseer of your souls.^(G)

¹¹ “I am^(A) the good shepherd.^(B) The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.^{(C) 12} The hired hand is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep. So when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away.^(D) Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it.

The Shepherd Struck, the Sheep Scattered