34:1 Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to ①those shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord ②GOD says: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ③feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not ④feed the flock?
▷ ①Lit them, the shepherds ②Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD, and so throughout the ch ③Lit pasturing, pasture ④Lit pasturing, pasture
34:3 You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat sheep ①without feeding the flock.
▷ ①Lit you do not pasture
34:4 Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you searched for the lost; but with force and with violence you have ①dominated them.
▷ ①Or ruled
34:5 They scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every animal of the field and scattered.
34:6 My flock strayed through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to search or seek for them.” ’ ”
34:7 Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
34:8 “As I live,” declares the Lord GOD, “certainly, because My flock has become plunder, and My flock has become food for all the animals of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock,
34:9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
34:10 ‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand My ①sheep ②from them and make them stop tending sheep. So the shepherds will not ③feed themselves anymore, but I will save My sheep from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.” ’ ”
▷ ①Or flock ②Lit from their hand ③Lit pasture, and so throughout the ch
34:11 For the Lord GOD says this: “Behold, I Myself will search for My sheep and look after them.
34:12 As a shepherd cares for his flock on a day when he is among his scattered ①sheep, so I will care for My ②sheep and will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.
▷ ①Or flock ②Or flock
34:13 I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
34:14 I will feed them in a good pasture, and their grazing place will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in a good grazing place and feed in ①rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
▷ ①Lit fat
34:15 I Myself will feed My flock and I Myself will ①lead them to rest,” declares the Lord GOD.
▷ ①Lit let them lie down
34:16 “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will eliminate. I will feed them with judgment.
34:17 “As for you, My flock, this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am going to judge between one ①sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.
▷ ①Or lamb
34:18 Is it too little a thing for you to feed in the good pasture, that you must trample with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or too little for you to drink the clear waters, that you must muddy the rest with your feet?
34:19 But as for My flock, they must eat what you trample with your feet, and drink what you muddy with your feet!’ ”
34:20 Therefore, this is what the Lord GOD says to them: “Behold, I, I Myself will also judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
34:21 Since you push away with your side and shoulder, and gore all the ①weak with your horns until you have scattered them ②abroad,
▷ ①Or sick ②Lit to the outside
34:22 therefore, I will save My flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.
34:23 “Then I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd.
34:24 And I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I the LORD have spoken.
34:25 “And I will make a covenant of peace with them and eliminate harmful animals from the land, so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
34:26 I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will make showers fall in their season; they will be showers of blessing.
34:27 Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have saved them from the hand of those who enslaved them.
34:28 They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the animals of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them afraid.
34:29 I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be ①victims of famine in the land, and they will not endure the insults of the nations anymore.
▷ ①Lit those gathered
34:30 Then 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.
34:31 “As for you, My sheep, ①the sheep of My pasture, you are mankind, and I am your God,” declares the Lord GOD.
▷ ①As in MT; LXX you are sheep of My flock, and