The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Ezekiel 34
1 Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2 “Son of man, prophesy against the
shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell
them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh says:
“Woe to the shepherds of Israel
who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds
feed the sheep?
3 You eatthe fat. You clothe yourself with
the wool. Youkillthe fatlings, but youdon’t
feed the sheep.
4 You haven’t strengthened the diseased.
You haven’t healed that which was sick.
You haven’t bound up that which was broken.
You haven’t brought back that which
was driven away. You haven’t sought that
which was lost, but you have ruled over
them with force and with rigor.
5 They were scattered, because there
was no shepherd. They became food to
all the animals of the field, and were scattered.
6 My sheep wandered through all the
mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my
sheep were scattered on all the surface of
the earth. There was no one who searched
or sought.”
7 “ ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word:
8 “As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh,
“surely because my sheep became a prey,
and my sheep became food to all the animals
of the field, because there was no
shepherd, and my shepherds didn’t search
for my sheep, but the shepherds fed them selves,
and didn’t feed my sheep,
9 therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word!”
10 The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am
against the shepherds. I will require my
sheep at their hand, and cause them to
cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds
won’t feed themselves any more. I
will deliver my sheep from their mouth,
that they may not be food for them.”
11 “ ‘For the Lord Yahweh says: “Behold,
I myself, even I, will search for my sheep,
and will seek them out.
12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock in
the day that he is among his sheep that
are scattered abroad, so I will seek out
my sheep. I will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in
the cloudy and dark day.
13 I will bring them out from the peoples,
and gather them from the countries, and
will bring them into their own land. I will
feed them on the mountains of Israel, by
the watercourses, and in all the inhabited
places of the country.
14 I willfeedthemwithgoodpasture, and
their fold will be on the mountains of the
height ofIsrael. There they will lie down in
a good fold. They will feed on rich pasture
on the mountains of Israel.
15 I myself will be the shepherd of my
sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,”
says the Lord Yahweh.
16 “I will seek that which was lost, and
will bring back 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 justice.
17 “As for you, O my flock, the Lord Yahweh
says: ‘Behold, I judge between sheep
and sheep, the rams and the male goats.
18 Does it seem a small thing to you to
have fed on the good pasture, but you must
tread down with your feet the residue of
your pasture? And to have drunk of the
clear waters, but must you foul the residue
with your feet?
19 As for my sheep, they eat that which
you have trodden with your feet, and they
drink that which you have fouled with
your feet.’
20 “Therefore the Lord Yahweh says to
them: ‘Behold,I, even I, will judge between
the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
21 Because you thrust with side and with
shoulder, and push all the diseased with
your horns, until you have scattered them
abroad,
22 therefore I will save my flock, and
they will no more be a prey. I will judge
between sheep and sheep.
23 I will set up one shepherd over them,
and he will feed them, even my servant
David. He will feed them, and he will be
their shepherd.
24 I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my
servant David prince among them. I, Yahweh,
have spoken it.
25 “ ‘I will make with them a covenant of
peace, and will cause evil animals to cease
out of the land. They will dwell securely in
the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
26 I will make them and the places
around my hill a blessing. I will cause the
shower to come down in its season. There
will be showers of blessing.
27 The tree of the field will yield its fruit,
and the earth will yield its increase, and
they will be secure in their land. Then they
will know that I am Yahweh, when I have
broken the bars of their yoke, and have
delivered them out of the hand of those
who made slaves of them.
28 They will no more be a prey to the nations,
neither will the animals of the earth
devour them; but they will dwell securely,
and no one will make them afraid.
29 I will raise up to them a plantation
for renown, and they will no more be
consumed with famine in the land, and not
bear the shame of the nations any more.
30 They will know that I, Yahweh, their
God am with them, and that they, the
house of Israel, are my people, says the
Lord Yahweh.
31 Youmy sheep,the sheepofmypasture,
are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord
Yahweh.”