Ezekiel 34

1The word of the LORD came to me:

2“Human one, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus says the LORD GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been shepherding themselves! Should not shepherds shepherd the flock?

3You eat the fat, clothe yourselves with the wool, and slaughter the fattened animal; but you do not shepherd the flock.

4You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the straying, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with force and harshness.

5They were scattered because there was no shepherd, and they became food for every wild animal of the field; they were scattered.

6My flock wandered over all the mountains and every high hill. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, with no one seeking them and no one searching for them.

7Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

8As I live, declares the LORD GOD, because my flock became plunder and my flock became food for every wild animal of the field, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds did not seek my flock, but the shepherds shepherded themselves and did not shepherd my flock—

9therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the LORD.

10Thus says the LORD GOD: Look, I am against the shepherds. I will require my flock from their hand, and I will put an end to their shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer shepherd themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths, and they will no longer be food for them.

11For thus says the LORD GOD: Look, I myself will search for my flock and examine them.

12As a shepherd examines their flock on the day when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will examine my flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of cloud and deep darkness.

13I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the lands, and I will bring them into their own land. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

14I will shepherd them in good pasture, and their fold will be on the high mountains of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold, and they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

15I myself will shepherd my flock, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the LORD GOD.

16I will seek the lost, bring back the straying, bind up the injured, and strengthen the sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will shepherd it with justice.

17As for you, my flock, thus says the LORD GOD: Look, I am judging between one sheep and another, between rams and male goats.

18Is it too little for you to feed in the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pasture with your feet? And to drink clear water, that you must foul what remains with your feet?

19Must my flock feed on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have fouled?

20Therefore thus says the LORD GOD to them: Look, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

21Because you shove with flank and shoulder, and butt all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,

22I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plunder. I will judge between one sheep and another.

23I will raise up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will shepherd them, and he will be their shepherd.

24I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

25I will make with them a covenant of peace and remove dangerous wild animals from the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.

26I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will send down the rain in its season; they will be rains of blessing.

27The tree of the field will give its fruit, and the land will give its yield. They will be secure on their land, and they will know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

28They will no longer be plunder for the nations, nor will the wild animals of the land devour them. They will live securely, with no one to terrify them.

29I will establish for them a planting for renown. They will no longer be swept away by famine in the land, nor will they bear the disgrace of the nations any longer.

30Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the LORD GOD.

31You are my flock, the flock of my pasture. You are human beings, and I am your God, declares the LORD GOD.”