Beginning

Prophecy Against the Shepherds of Israel

34 Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ² “Son of man, prophesy against the ^(A)shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to ^[a]those shepherds, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ^[b](B)shepherding themselves! Should not the shepherds ^(C)shepherd the flock? ³ You ^(D)eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you ^(E)sacrifice the fat sheep without shepherding the flock. ⁴ Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, and the ^[c]diseased you have not healed, and ^(F)the broken you have not bound up, and the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^(G)searched for the lost; but with strength and with severity you have dominated them. ⁵ They were ^(H)scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ^(I)food for every beast of the field and were scattered. ⁶ My flock ^(J)wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; ^(K)My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was ^(L)no one to seek or search for them.”’”

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: ⁸ “As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “surely because My flock has become ^(M)plunder, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not seek for My flock, but rather the shepherds shepherded themselves and did not shepherd My flock; ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: ¹⁰ ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^(N)against the shepherds, and I will seek My flock from their hand and make them ^(O)cease from shepherding the flock. So the shepherds will not shepherd themselves anymore, but I will ^(P)deliver My flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them.”’”

Yahweh Will Shepherd His Flock

¹¹ For thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I Myself will ^(Q)seek My sheep and care for them. ^12 (R)As a shepherd ^[d]cares for his herd in the day when he is among his ^[e]sheep which are spread out, so I will ^[f](S)care for My ^[g]sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a ^(T)cloudy and gloomy day. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will ^(U)shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^(V)streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will shepherd them in a ^(W)good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and be shepherded in ^[h](X)rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will ^(Y)shepherd My flock, and I will make them lie down,” declares Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶ “I will search for the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the ^(Z)fat and the strong I will destroy. I will ^(AA)shepherd them with judgment.

¹⁷ “As for you, My flock, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will ^(AB)judge between one ^[i]sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Is it too ^(AC)slight a thing for you that you should be shepherded 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 ^[j]foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ As for My flock, they must be shepherded on what you tread down with your feet and drink what you ^[k]foul with your feet!’”

²⁰ Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh 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 ^(AD)thrust at all the sickly with your horns until you have scattered them ^[l]abroad, ²² therefore, I will ^(AE)save My flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

²³ “Then I will ^(AF)establish over them one ^(AG)shepherd, My servant ^(AH)David, and he will shepherd them; he will shepherd them himself and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and My servant ^(AI)David will be prince among them; I, Yahweh, have spoken.

Yahweh’s Covenant of Peace

²⁵ “I will cut a ^(AJ)covenant of peace with them and ^(AK)cause harmful beasts to cease from the land so that they may ^(AL)live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places all around My hill a ^(AM)blessing. And I will cause ^(AN)showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of ^(AO)blessing. ²⁷ Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be ^(AP)secure on their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have ^(AQ)broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^(AR)live securely, and no one will make them tremble. ²⁹ I will establish for them a ^[m](AS)renowned planting place, and they will ^(AT)not again be ^[n]victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^(AU)bear the dishonor of the nations anymore. ³⁰ Then they will know that ^(AV)I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares Lord Yahweh. ³¹ “As for you, My ^(AW)sheep, the ^(AX)sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God,” declares Lord Yahweh.

Prophecy Against Mount Seir

35 Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ² “Son of man, set your face against ^(AY)Mount Seir and prophesy against it ³ and say to it, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,

⁵ Because you have had everlasting ^(BC)enmity and have ^[o]delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the ^[p](BD)punishment of the end, ⁶ therefore as I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “I will ^[q]prepare you for ^(BE)bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; you surely have not hated bloodshed, so bloodshed will pursue you. ⁷ I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns. ⁸ I will ^(BF)fill its mountains with its slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain by the sword will ^[r]fall. ⁹ I will make you an everlasting ^(BG)desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

¹⁰ “Because you have ^(BH)said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess ^[s]them,’ although ^(BI)Yahweh was there, ¹¹ therefore as I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “I will deal with you ^(BJ)according to your anger and according to your jealousy which you dealt with them because of your hatred against them; so I will ^(BK)make Myself known among them when I judge you. ¹² Then you will know ^[t]that I, Yahweh, have heard all your ^[u]contempt which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are ^(BL)given to us for food.’ ¹³ And you have ^(BM)magnified yourselves with your mouth against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; ^(BN)I have heard it.” ¹⁴ Thus says Lord Yahweh, “As all the ^(BO)earth delights, I will make you a desolation. ¹⁵ As you ^(BP)delighted over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, ^(BQ)so I will do to you. You will be a ^(BR)desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”’

Mountains of Israel Will Bear Fruit

36 “Now as for you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of Yahweh. ² Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Because the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting ^[v](BS)heights have become our possession,’ ³ therefore prophesy and say, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “^[w]For good reason they have made you ^(BT)desolate and bruised you from every side, that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations, and you have been taken up in the ^[x](BU)speech of their tongue and the rumors of the people.”’” ⁴ Therefore, O ^(BV)mountains of Israel, hear the word of Lord Yahweh. Thus says Lord Yahweh to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate wastes and to the forsaken cities which have become ^(BW)plunder and objects of scoffing to the rest of the nations which are round about, ⁵ therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, “Surely in the fire of My ^(BX)jealousy I have spoken against the ^(BY)rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession with wholehearted ^(BZ)gladness and with scorn of soul, to drive it out for plunder.” ⁶ Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have ^(CA)borne the dishonor of the nations.’ ⁷ Therefore thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘I have ^[y]sworn that surely the nations which are around you will themselves bear their dishonor. ⁸ But you, O mountains of Israel, you will ^(CB)put forth your branches and bear your fruit for My people Israel; for they will soon come. ⁹ For, behold, I am for you, and I will ^(CC)turn to you, and you will be ^(CD)cultivated and sown. ¹⁰ I will multiply men on you, ^(CE)all the house of Israel, all of it; and the ^(CF)cities will be inhabited, and the waste places will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will multiply on you man and beast; and they will multiply and be fruitful; and I will cause you to be inhabited as you were ^(CG)formerly and will ^[z]treat you ^(CH)better than at the first. Thus you will know that I am Yahweh. ¹² And I will cause ^(CI)men—My people Israel—to walk on you and possess you so that you will become their ^(CJ)inheritance and never again ^(CK)bereave them of children.’

¹³ “Thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Because they say to you, “You are a ^(CL)devourer of men and have bereaved your ^[aa]nation of children,” ¹⁴ therefore you will no longer devour men and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares Lord Yahweh. ¹⁵ I will not let you hear ^(CM)dishonor from the nations anymore, nor will you bear ^(CN)reproach from the peoples any longer, nor will you cause your nation to ^(CO)stumble any longer,” declares Lord Yahweh.’”

Yahweh’s Name Profaned Among the Nations

¹⁶ Then the word of Yahweh came to me saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living in their own land, they ^(CP)defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like ^(CQ)the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I ^(CR)poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹ Also I ^(CS)scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. ^(CT)According to their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ Then they came to the nations to which they came. And they ^(CU)profaned My holy name because it was said of them, ‘These are the ^(CV)people of Yahweh; yet they have come out of His land.’ ²¹ But I ^[ab]had concern for My ^(CW)holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

They Will Know That I Am Yahweh

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “It is ^(CX)not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, to which you have come. ²³ I will ^(CY)prove the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the ^(CZ)nations will know that I am Yahweh,” declares Lord Yahweh, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴ And I will ^(DA)take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will ^[ac](DB)sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^(DC)uncleanness and from all your ^(DD)idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a ^(DE)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^(DF)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will ^(DG)put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to do My judgments. ²⁸ And you will inhabit the land that I gave to your fathers; so you will be ^(DH)My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I ^(DI)will not ^[ad]bring a famine on you. ³⁰ I will ^(DJ)multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field so that you will not receive again the reproach of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you will ^(DK)remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves to your own faces for your iniquities and your abominations. ³² I am not doing this ^(DL)for your sake,” declares Lord Yahweh, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and feel dishonor for your ways, O house of Israel!”

³³ ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will cause the ^(DM)cities to be inhabited, and the ^(DN)waste places will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolate land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. ³⁵ And they will say, ‘This desolate land has become like the ^(DO)garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate, and ^[ae]ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations that remain all around you will know that I, Yahweh, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, Yahweh, have spoken and ^(DP)will do it.”

³⁷ ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “This also I will let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do for them: I will increase their men like a flock. ³⁸ Like the ^(DQ)flock for holy offerings, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed times, so will the waste cities be filled with ^(DR)flocks of men. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.”’”