Beginning

34 ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say unto the pastors, Thus hath the Lord GOD said; Woe unto the shepherds of Israel that feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks?

³ Ye eat the milk, and ye clothe yourselves with the wool, ye kill those that are fat; but ye do not feed the flock.

⁴ Ye have not strengthened the weak, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty ye have ruled them;

⁵ and they are dispersed because there is no shepherd; and they became food to all the beasts of the field, and they were scattered.

⁶ My sheep were lost and wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill; my flock was dispersed upon all the face of the earth, and there was no one to search for them or to require anything of them.

⁷ ¶ Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;

⁸ as I live, said the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became food to every beast of the field, without a pastor, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed my flock;

⁹ therefore, O ye pastors, hear the word of the LORD.

¹⁰ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any longer; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, and they shall no longer be food for them.

¹¹ For thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I, even I, will both search and recognize my sheep.

¹² As the shepherd recognizes his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I recognize my sheep, and will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

¹³ And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and will bring them to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the habitations of the country.

¹⁴ I will feed them in good pastures and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be; there they shall sleep in a good fold, and in fat pastures they shall be fed upon the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵ I will feed my flock, and I will cause them to have a fold, saith the Lord GOD.

¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost and bring again that which was driven away and will bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them in judgment.

¹⁷ ¶ And as for you, O my flock, thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between the rams and the he goats.

¹⁸ Does it seem a small thing unto you that ye eat of the good pastures, but ye also tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and that in drinking of the deep waters, ye must also foul the residue with your feet?

¹⁹ And my sheep eat that which ye have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.

²⁰ Therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and between the lean sheep,

²¹ because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder and pushed all the weak with your horns until ye have scattered them outside.

²² I will save my flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

²³ And I will raise up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my slave David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

²⁴ And I the LORD will be their God, and my slave David prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.

²⁵ And I will establish with them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

²⁶ And I will give unto them and to the places round about my hill blessing, and I will cause the rain to come down in its season; they shall be rains of blessing.

²⁷ And the tree of the field shall yield her fruit, and the earth shall yield her fruit, and they shall be safe in their land and shall know that I am the LORD when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those that served themselves of them.

²⁸ And they shall no longer be a prey to the Gentiles, neither shall the beast of the land devour them; but they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid.

²⁹ And I will raise up for them a plant by name, and they shall no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the Gentiles any longer.

³⁰ Thus shall they know that I the LORD their God am with them and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, said the Lord GOD.

³¹ And ye my flock, the flock of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, said the Lord GOD.

35 ¶ Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

² Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against him,

³ and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD: Behold, O Mount Seir, I am against thee, and I will stretch out my hand against thee, and I will make thee waste and solitary.

⁴ I will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, and thou shalt know that I am the LORD.

⁵ Because thou hast had perpetual enmities and hast scattered the sons of Israel to the force of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the extremely evil time:

⁶ therefore, as I live, said the Lord GOD, I will prepare thee unto blood, and blood shall pursue thee: and if thou dost not hate blood, blood shall pursue thee.

⁷ And I will make Mount Seir waste and solitary and cut off from him, he that passes out and him that returns.

⁸ And I will fill his mountains with his dead; and in thy hills and in thy valleys, and in all thy rivers, they shall fall that are slain with the sword.

⁹ I will make thee perpetual desolations, and thy cities shall never be restored; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

¹⁰ ¶ Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two countries shall be mine, and we will possess them, whereas the LORD was there.

¹¹ Therefore, as I live, said the Lord GOD, I will even do according to thine anger and according to thine envy which thou hast used out of thy enmity against them; and I shall be known in them when I judge thee.

¹² And thou shalt know that I, the LORD, have heard all thy injuries which thou hast spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, They are laid desolate; they are given us to devour.

¹³ Thus with your mouth ye have boasted against me and have multiplied your words against me; I have heard them.

¹⁴ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Thus shall the whole earth rejoice when I shall make thee desolate.

¹⁵ As thou didst rejoice upon the inheritance of the house of Israel, because it was desolate, so will I do unto thee; thou shalt be desolate, O Mount Seir, and all Idumea, even all of it: and they shall know that I am the LORD.

36 ¶ Also, thou son of man, prophesy upon the mountains of Israel and say, Ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD.

² Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because the enemy hath said regarding you, Aha, even the ancient high places are ours in possession;

³ therefore prophesy and say, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because they have made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side that ye might be a possession unto the residue of the Gentiles, and ye are taken up in the lips of talkers and are an infamy of the people;

⁴ Therefore, ye mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD: Thus hath the Lord GOD said to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to the ruins and the desolate wastes, and to the cities that are forsaken which became a prey and derision to the residue of the Gentiles that are round about,

⁵ therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: Surely in the fire of my jealousy I have spoken against the other Gentiles and against all Idumea, who have disputed my land into their possession with the joy of all their heart, with despiteful desires, to cast it out for a prey.

⁶ Prophesy therefore upon the land of Israel and say unto the mountains, and to the hills, to the rivers, and to the valleys, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Behold, I have spoken in my jealousy and in my fury because ye have borne the shame of the Gentiles,

⁷ therefore thus hath the Lord GOD said: I have lifted up my hand, Surely the Gentiles that are about you: they shall bear their shame.

⁸ But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to my people of Israel, for they are at hand to come.

⁹ For, behold, I am for you, and I will turn unto you, and ye shall be tilled and sown;

¹⁰ and I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, even all of it: and the cities shall be inhabited, and the ruins shall be built.

¹¹ And I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall multiply and grow; and I will cause thee to dwell as was thy desire of old and will do better unto you than at your beginnings; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.

¹² And I will cause men to walk upon you, even my people Israel; and they shall possess thee, and thou shalt be their inheritance, and from now on thou shalt no longer bereave them of sons.

¹³ Thus hath the Lord GOD said: Because they say of you, Thou land that devours up men and hast bereaved thy nations of sons,

¹⁴ therefore thou shalt devour men no more, neither bereave thy nations of sons any more, saith the Lord GOD.

¹⁵ Neither will I cause men to hear in thee the shame of the Gentiles any longer, neither shalt thou bear the reproach of the peoples any more, neither shalt thou cause the sons of thy inhabitants to die any longer, saith the Lord GOD.

¹⁶ ¶ And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

¹⁷ Son of man, the house of Israel which dwells in their land has defiled it with their own ways and with their works; their way was before me as the uncleanness of a menstruous woman.

¹⁸ And I poured my fury upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for their idols with which they had polluted it:

¹⁹ And I scattered them among the Gentiles, and they were dispersed through the countries; according to their ways and according to their doings I judged them.

²⁰ And when they entered unto the Gentiles, where they went, they profaned my holy name, when they said to them, These are the people of the LORD and are gone forth out of his land.

²¹ And it has pained me to see my holy name profaned by the house of Israel among the Gentiles where they went.

²² Therefore say unto the house of Israel, Thus hath the Lord GOD said: I do not do this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the Gentiles, where ye went.

²³ And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the Gentiles, which ye have profaned in the midst of them; and the Gentiles shall know that I am the LORD, said the Lord GOD when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes.

²⁴ And I will take you from among the Gentiles and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land.

²⁵ ¶ And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be cleansed from all your filthiness, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my commandments, and ye shall keep my rights, and do them.

²⁸ And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my people, and I will be your God.

²⁹ I will also keep you from all your uncleanness: and I will call to the wheat and will multiply it and lay no famine upon you.

³⁰ I will multiply likewise the fruit of the trees, and the fruit of the fields, that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among the Gentiles.

³¹ Then ye shall remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and for your abominations.

³² Not for your sakes do I do this, said the Lord GOD, be it known unto you; be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel.

³³ Thus said the Lord GOD; In the day that I shall have cleansed you from all your iniquities. I will also cause you to dwell in the cities, and the wastes shall be built.

³⁴ And the desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by;

³⁵ who said, This desolate land used to be like the garden of Eden; and these waste and desolate and ruined cities used to be fortified.

³⁶ And the Gentiles that are left round about you shall know that I the LORD built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I the LORD have spoken it, and I will do it.

³⁷ Thus hath the Lord GOD said; I will yet be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for them; I will multiply men like flocks.

³⁸ As the holy sheep, as the sheep of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts; so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men; and they shall know that I am the LORD.