Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

This is a song that David wrote.

God takes care of his people^[a]

Israel's leaders are like shepherds

34 The Lord gave this message to me: ² ‘Son of man, you must speak my message to the shepherds of Israel to warn them.^[a] Tell them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Terrible trouble will come to you shepherds of Israel who only think about yourselves. Shepherds should take care of the sheep and feed them. ³ You drink their milk and you use their wool to make clothes for yourselves. You kill the best animals to eat. But you do not take care of the sheep! ⁴ You have not helped the weak sheep to be strong. You have not made the sick sheep well. Nor have you covered their wounds. You have not looked for lost sheep and brought them back. Instead, you have ruled my people in a cruel way. ⁵ So my sheep ran away to different places because they did not have a shepherd to take care of them. Then the wild animals found them and ate them. ⁶ My sheep went over all the mountains and the high hills. They went to places everywhere on the earth. And nobody went to look for them and bring them back again.

⁷ So, you shepherds, listen to the Lord's message. ⁸ My sheep do not have any shepherds to take care of them. So they are not safe from danger. They have become food for all the wild animals. You, my shepherds, have not gone to look for the sheep that were lost. You only wanted to help yourselves instead of my sheep. So I, the Almighty Lord, promise you this, as surely as I live. ⁹ You shepherds, listen to the Lord's message! ¹⁰ The Almighty Lord says this: I have become the shepherds' enemy. I will take my sheep away from them. I will no longer allow them to be shepherds. They will not be able to kill my sheep to feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep, so that the shepherds cannot eat them.

¹¹ So this is what the Almighty Lord says: I myself will go and look for my sheep to bring them back. ¹² I will be like a shepherd who looks everywhere to find his lost sheep. I will find them and I will rescue them. I will bring them back from the places that they have run away to. It was a dark day with many clouds when they ran away. ¹³ They have been living in foreign countries among other people. I will bring them back to live in their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel. They will eat beside its rivers and in all the places where people live. ¹⁴ I will feed them in fields on Israel's mountains where grass grows. They will lie down in the good fields. They will eat the green grass that grows on the mountains. ¹⁵ I myself will take care of my sheep. I will give them safe places to lie down and rest. I, the Almighty Lord, say this. ¹⁶ I will find the lost sheep and I will bring them back. I will cover their wounds. I will help those who are weak to become strong. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will give them justice as their food!

15 One day, many bad people and men who took taxes from people were coming round Jesus. They all wanted to hear what Jesus was saying. ² The Pharisees and teachers of God's Law did not like this. ‘This man is friendly with people that do not obey God,’ they said. ‘He even eats with them in their homes.’

A story about a sheep that a man has lost^[a]

³ So Jesus told them this story: ⁴ ‘Think about a man who has 100 sheep.^[b] He may lose one of them. What does he do then? He leaves all his other sheep in the fields. Then he goes. He looks for the sheep that he has lost. He looks until he finds it. ⁵ When he finds the sheep, he is very happy. He lifts it up and he puts it across his shoulders. ⁶ Then he carries it back home. He speaks to all his friends and to the people that live near him. He says, “I have found the sheep that I lost. So come to my house and we can all be happy together.” ⁷ When one person stops doing wrong things, it is like that. It makes those that live with God in heaven very happy. They will be happier about that one person, than about 99 people who already obey God.’