¹⁷ “As for you, My flock, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I will ^(A)judge between one ^[a]sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Is it too ^(B)slight a thing for you that you should feed in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must ^[b]foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ As for My flock, they must eat what you tread down with your feet and drink what you ^[c]foul with your feet!’”

²⁰ Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you push with side and with shoulder, and ^(C)thrust at all the ^[d]weak with your horns until you have scattered them ^[e]abroad, ²² therefore, I will ^(D)deliver My flock, and they will no longer be a prey; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

³ He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will ^(A)purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may ^(B)present to the Lord ^[a]offerings in righteousness.

Final Admonition

4 “^[a]For behold, the day is coming, ^(A)burning like a furnace; and all the arrogant and every evildoer will be ^(B)chaff; and the day that is coming will ^(C)set them ablaze,” says the Lord of hosts, “so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.” ² “But for you who ^[b]fear My name, the ^(D)sun of righteousness will rise with ^(E)healing in its wings; and you will go forth and ^(F)skip about like calves from the stall. ³ You will ^(G)tread down the wicked, for they will be ^(H)ashes under the soles of your feet ^(I)on the day ^[c]which I am preparing,” says the Lord of hosts.