Ezekiel 34

¹ The word of Yahweh was addressed to me as follows,

² 'Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy and say to them, "Shepherds, theLord Yahweh says this: Disaster is in store for the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Are not shepherdsmeant to feed a flock?

³ Yet you have fed on milk, you have dressed yourselves in wool, you have sacrificed the fattest sheep,but failed to feed the flock.

⁴ You have failed to make weak sheep strong, or to care for the sick ones, or bandage the injured ones.You have failed to bring back strays or look for the lost. On the contrary, you have ruled them cruel y andharshly.

⁵ For lack of a shepherd they have been scattered, to become the prey of al the wild animals; they havebeen scattered.

⁶ My flock is astray on every mountain and on every high hil ; my flock has been scattered al over theworld; no one bothers about them and no one looks for them.

⁷ "Very wel , shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

⁸ As I live, I swear it -- declares the Lord Yahweh -- since my flock has been pil aged and for lack of ashepherd is now the prey of every wild animal, since my shepherds have ceased to bother about my flock, sincemy shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock,

⁹ very wel , shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

¹⁰ The Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I am against the shepherds. I shall take my flock out of theircharge and henceforth not al ow them to feed my flock. And the shepherds will stop feeding themselves,because I shal rescue my sheep from their mouths to stop them from being food for them.

¹¹ "For the Lord Yahweh says this: Look, I myself shal take care of my flock and look after it.

¹² As a shepherd looks after his flock when he is with his scattered sheep, so shal I look after mysheep. I shal rescue them from wherever they have been scattered on the day of clouds and darkness.

¹³ I shal bring them back from the peoples where they are; I shal gather them back from the countriesand bring them back to their own land. I shall pasture them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines and in althe inhabited parts of the country.

¹⁴ I shal feed them in good pasturage; the highest mountains of Israel will be their grazing ground.There they will rest in good grazing grounds; they will browse in rich pastures on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵ I myself shal pasture my sheep, I myself shal give them rest -- declares the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁶ I shal look for the lost one, bring back the stray, bandage the injured and make the sick strong. Ishall watch over the fat and healthy. I shall be a true shepherd to them.

¹⁷ "As for you, my sheep, the Lord Yahweh says this: I shall judge between sheep and sheep, betweenrams and he-goats.

¹⁸ Not content to drink the clearest of the water, you foul the rest with your feet.

¹⁹ And my sheep must graze on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have fouled.

²⁰ Very wel , the Lord Yahweh says this: I myself shall judge between the fat sheep and the thin sheep.

²¹ Since you have jostled with flank and shoulder and butted al the ailing sheep with your horns, untilyou have scattered them outside,

²² I shal come and save my sheep and stop them from being victimised. I shal judge between sheepand sheep.

²³ "I shal raise up one shepherd, my servant David, and put him in charge of them to pasture them; hewil pasture them and be their shepherd.

²⁴ I, Yahweh, shal be their God, and my servant David wil be ruler among them. I, Yahweh, havespoken.

²⁵ I shal make a covenant of peace with them; I shal rid the country of wild animals. They wil be ableto live secure in the desert and go to sleep in the woods.

²⁶ I shal settle them round my hil ; I shall send rain at the proper time; it wil be a rain of blessings.

²⁷ The trees of the countryside wil yield their fruit and the soil wil yield its produce; they will be secureon their soil. And they wil know that I am Yahweh when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from theclutches of their slave-masters.

²⁸ No more wil they be a prey to the nations, no more wil the wild animals of the country devour them.They wil live secure, with no one to frighten them.

²⁹ I shal make splendid vegetation grow for them; no more wil they suffer from famine in the country;no more will they have to bear the insults of other nations.

³⁰ So they wil know that I, their God, am with them and that they, the House of Israel, are my people --declares the Lord Yahweh.

³¹ And you, my sheep, are the flock of my human pasture, and I am your God -- declares the LordYahweh." '