Psalm 78:71
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
71 from tending the nursing ewes he brought him
to be the shepherd of his people Jacob,
of Israel, his inheritance.(A)
2 Samuel 5:2
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2 For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The Lord said to you, ‘It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.’ ”(A)
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1 Peter 5:2
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2 to tend the flock of God that is in your charge, exercising the oversight,[a] not under compulsion but willingly, as God would have you do it,[b] not for sordid gain but eagerly.(A)
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Ezekiel 34:23-24
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23 I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them; he shall feed them and be their shepherd.(A) 24 And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.(B)
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Isaiah 40:11
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11 He will feed his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms
and carry them in his bosom
and gently lead the mother sheep.(A)
Psalm 75:6-7
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6 For not from the east or from the west
and not from the wilderness comes lifting up,(A)
7 but it is God who executes judgment,
putting down one and lifting up another.(B)
Psalm 28:9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
9 O save your people and bless your heritage;
be their shepherd and carry them forever.(A)
1 Chronicles 11:2
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2 For some time now, even while Saul was king, it was you who commanded the army of Israel. The Lord your God said to you, ‘It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over my people Israel.’ ”(A)
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1 Samuel 2:7-8
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7 The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low; he also exalts.(A)
8 He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world.(B)
Genesis 33:13
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
13 But Jacob said to him, “My lord knows that the children are frail and that the flocks and herds, which are nursing, are a care to me, and if they are overdriven for one day, all the flocks will die.
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John 21:15-17
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Jesus and Peter
15 When they had finished breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my lambs.”(A) 16 A second time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Tend my sheep.”(B) 17 He said to him the third time, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” Peter felt hurt because he said to him the third time, “Do you love me?” And he said to him, “Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.(C)
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Zechariah 11:4-17
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Two Kinds of Shepherds
4 “Thus says the Lord my God: Be a shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter.(A) 5 Those who buy them kill them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them.(B) 6 For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord. I will cause them, every one, to fall each into the hand of a neighbor and each into the hand of the king, and they shall devastate the earth, and I will deliver no one from their hand.”(C)
7 So on behalf of the sheep merchants,[a] I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. I took two staffs; one I named Favor, the other I named Unity, and I tended the sheep.(D) 8 In one month I disposed of the three shepherds, for I had become impatient with them, and they also detested me.(E) 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. What is to die, let it die; what is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed; and let those that are left devour the flesh of one another!” 10 I took my staff Favor and broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples.(F) 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep merchants[b] who were watching me knew that it was the word of the Lord.(G) 12 I then said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages, but if not, keep them.” So they weighed out as my wages thirty shekels of silver.(H) 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it into the treasury”[c]—this lordly price at which I was valued by them. So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them into the treasury[d] in the house of the Lord.(I) 14 Then I broke my second staff Unity, annulling the family ties between Judah and Israel.
15 Then the Lord said to me: “Take once more the implements of a worthless shepherd.(J) 16 For I am now raising up in the land a shepherd who does not care for the perishing, or seek the wandering,[e] or heal the maimed, or nourish the healthy,[f] but devours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.
17 Oh, my worthless shepherd,
who deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
and his right eye!
Let his arm be completely withered,
his right eye utterly blinded!”(K)
Micah 5:2-4
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Ruler from Bethlehem
2 [a]But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days.(A)
3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time
when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return
to the people of Israel.(B)
4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the Lord,
in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall live secure, for now he shall be great
to the ends of the earth,(C)
Footnotes
- 5.2 5.1 in Heb
Jeremiah 27:5-6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 It is I who by my great power and my outstretched arm have made the earth, with the people and animals that are on the earth, and I give it to whomever I please.(A) 6 Now I have given all these lands into the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, my servant, and I have given him even the wild animals of the field to serve him.(B)
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Psalm 113:7-8
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7 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8 to make them sit with princes,
with the princes of his people.
2 Samuel 7:8
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8 Now therefore thus you shall say to my servant David: Thus says the Lord of hosts: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep to be prince over my people Israel,(A)
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1 Samuel 10:1
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10 1
Footnotes
- 10.1 Gk: Heb lacks over his people Israel. You shall . . . anointed you ruler
Matthew 2:6
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
6 ‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah,
for from you shall come a ruler
who is to shepherd[a] my people Israel.’ ”(A)
Footnotes
- 2.6 Or rule
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.