Beginning

A Prophecy Against Israel’s Shepherds

34 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? ³ You eat the fat and clothe yourself with the wool; you kill those who are fed without feeding the flock. ⁴ The diseased you have not strengthened, nor have you healed that which was sick, nor have you bound up that which was broken, nor have you brought back that which was driven away, nor have you sought that which was lost. But with force and with cruelty you have subjugated them. ⁵ They were scattered because there was no shepherd. And they became meat to all the beasts of the field and were scattered. ⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill. Indeed, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and no one searched or sought after them.

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ As I live, says the Lord God, surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock even became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock; but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. ¹⁰ Thus says the Lord God: I am against the shepherds. And I will require My flock from their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Nor shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore, for I will deliver My flock from their mouth so that they may not be meat for them.

The True Shepherd

¹¹ For thus says the Lord God: I, even I, will search for My sheep and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so I will seek out My sheep and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in a cloudy and dark day. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel their grazing ground shall be. There they shall lie on good grazing ground, and in a rich pasture they shall feed upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God. ¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost and bring back that which was driven away and 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 with judgment.

¹⁷ As for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: I will judge between sheep and cattle, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Does it seem a small thing to you to have eaten up 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 foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ And as for My flock, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and between the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, ²² therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey. And I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David. He shall feed them himself and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.

²⁵ I will make with them a covenant of peace and will cause the wild beasts to cease from the land so that they dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing. And I will cause the showers to come down in their season. They shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the ground shall yield its increase, and they shall be safe in their land. Then they 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 who enslaved them. ²⁸ They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beast of the land devour them. But they shall dwell safely and no one shall make them afraid. ²⁹ I will raise up for them a planting place of renown, and no more shall they be consumed with hunger in the land, nor shall they bear the shame of the nations anymore. ³⁰ Thus shall they know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord God. ³¹ As for you, My flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God, says the Lord God.

A Prophecy Against Edom

35 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it, ³ and say to it, Thus says the Lord God: I am against you, O Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a desolation and a waste. ⁴ I will lay your cities waste, and you shall become a desolation. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

⁵ Because you have had a perpetual hatred and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword in the time of their calamity, in the time of the punishment of the end, ⁶ therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, I will prepare you for bloodshed, and bloodshed shall pursue you. Since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore blood shall pursue you. ⁷ Thus I will make Mount Seir a desolation and a waste, and cut off from it the one who passes through and the one who returns. ⁸ I will fill its mountains with its slain men. On your hills and in your valleys and in all your rivers, they shall fall who are slain with the sword. ⁹ I will make you a perpetual desolation, and your cities shall not be inhabited. Then you shall know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ Because you have 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, says the Lord God, I will treat you according to your anger and according to your envy, which you have showed out of your hatred against them. And I will make Myself known among them when I have judged you. ¹² Then you shall know that I, the Lord, have heard all your blasphemies which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel, saying, “They are laid desolate. They are given to us to consume.” ¹³ Thus with your mouth you have boasted against Me and have multiplied your words against Me. I have heard them. ¹⁴ Thus says the Lord God: When the whole earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation. ¹⁵ As you rejoiced at the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You shall be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.

A Prophecy to the Mountains of Israel

36 As for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say: O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord God: Because the enemy has said against you, “Aha! Even the ancient high places are our possession,” ³ therefore, prophesy and say: Thus says the Lord God: For good reason they have made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side so that you might become a possession to the rest of the nations, and you have been taken up on the lips of talkers and are an infamy of the people. ⁴ Therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God: Thus says the Lord God to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the cities that are forsaken, which became a prey and derision to the rest of the nations that are all around; ⁵ therefore thus says the Lord God: Surely in the fire of My jealousy I have spoken against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who have arrogated My land into their possession with the joy of all their hearts and with a spiteful soul, to cast it out for a prey. ⁶ Prophesy therefore concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the rivers and to the valleys: Thus says the Lord God: I have spoken in My jealousy and in My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations. ⁷ Therefore, thus says the Lord God: I have lifted up My hand that surely the nations who are about you shall themselves bear their invectives.

⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit for My people Israel. For they shall come soon. ⁹ For I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. ¹⁰ And I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it. And the cities shall be inhabited, and the waste places shall be built. ¹¹ And I will multiply man and beast upon you. And they shall increase and bring forth fruit. And I will settle you as you were before and do better to you than at the beginning. Thus you shall know that I am the Lord. ¹² Indeed, I will cause men to walk upon you, My people Israel, and they shall possess you, and you shall be their inheritance, and you shall no longer bereave them of children.

¹³ Thus says the Lord God: Because they say to you, “You are a devourer of men and have bereaved your nation of children,” ¹⁴ therefore you shall devour men no more or bereave your nation of children anymore, says the Lord God. ¹⁵ Nor will I cause men to hear in you the invectives of the nations anymore, nor shall you bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to fall anymore, says the Lord God.

The Restoration of Israel

¹⁶ Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ¹⁷ Son of man, when the house of Israel lived in their own land, they defiled it by their ways and their deeds. Their way was before Me as the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore 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 nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries. According to their ways and according to their deeds, I judged them. ²⁰ When they entered the nations, where they went, they profaned My holy name, because they said of them, “These are the people of the Lord and have gone out of His land.” ²¹ But I had pity for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

²² Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ I will vindicate the sanctity of My great name which was profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when I shall be sanctified among you before their eyes.

²⁴ For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. ²⁶ Also, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will 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 I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. ²⁸ You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers. And you will be My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will also save you from all your uncleanness. And I will call for the grain and increase it and lay no famine upon you. ³⁰ I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase of the field so that you shall receive no more reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you shall remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations. ³² Not for your sake am I doing this, says the Lord God, let it be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your ways, O house of Israel!

³³ Thus says the Lord God: On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause you to dwell in the cities, and the waste places shall be built. ³⁴ The desolate land shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all who pass by. ³⁵ They shall say, “This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden. And the waste and desolate and ruined cities have become fenced and inhabited.” ³⁶ Then the nations that are left all around you shall know that I the Lord have built the ruined places and planted that which was desolate. I the Lord have spoken it, and I will do it.

³⁷ Thus says the Lord God: This also I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock. ³⁸ As the flock for sacrifices, as the flock of Jerusalem in her solemn feasts, so shall the waste cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.