1Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord God says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?[ † ]Jeremiah 23:1Ezekiel 22:25Micah 3:1-3, 11Zechariah 11:17 3You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.[ † ]Isaiah 56:11Zechariah 11:16Ezekiel 33:25-26Micah 3:1-3Zechariah 11:5
4You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.[ † ]Zechariah 11:16Matthew 9:36Matthew 10:16Matthew 18:12-13Luke 15:41 Peter 5:3 5They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild beasts.[ † ]Ezekiel 33:21Numbers 27:171 Kings 22:17Jeremiah 10:21Matthew 9:36Mark 6:34Isaiah 56:9Jeremiah 12:9 6My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the face of all the earth, with no one to search for them or seek them out.’[ † ]Jeremiah 40:11-12Jeremiah 50:6Ezekiel 7:161 Peter 2:25
7Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord God, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead,[ † ]Ezekiel 34:5-6Ezekiel 34:2-10 9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!’
10This is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand from them My flock and remove them from tending the flock, so that they can no longer feed themselves. For I will deliver My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’[ † ]Jeremiah 21:13Jeremiah 52:24-27Ezekiel 5:8Ezekiel 13:8Zechariah 10:3Ezekiel 3:18Hebrews 13:17Ezekiel 34:2-8Psalms 72:12-14Ezekiel 13:23
11For this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out.
12As a shepherd looks for his scattered sheep when he is among the flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.[ † ]Jeremiah 31:10Jeremiah 13:16Ezekiel 30:3Joel 2:2 13I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the settlements of the land.[ † ]Isaiah 65:9-10Jeremiah 23:3Ezekiel 11:17Ezekiel 20:41Ezekiel 28:25Ezekiel 36:24Ezekiel 37:21-22 14I will feed them in good pasture, and the lofty mountains of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in a good grazing land; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.[ † ]Psalms 23:2Jeremiah 3:15John 10:9Jeremiah 33:12
15I will tend My flock and make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’[ † ]Isaiah 40:11Micah 4:6Matthew 18:11Mark 2:17Luke 5:32Isaiah 10:16Amos 4:1Jeremiah 10:24
17This is what the Lord God says to you, My flock: ‘I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the goats.[ † ]Ezekiel 20:37Malachi 4:1Matthew 25:32 18Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? 19Why must My flock feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied?’
20Therefore this is what the Lord God says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.[ † ]Ezekiel 34:17 21Since you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, 22I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another. 23I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd.[ † ]Isaiah 40:11Jeremiah 23:4-5Hosea 1:11John 10:11Hebrews 13:201 Peter 2:251 Peter 5:4Jeremiah 30:9Ezekiel 37:24Hosea 3:5 24I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.[ † ]Exodus 29:45Ezekiel 37:25Isaiah 55:3Jeremiah 30:9Ezekiel 37:24-25Hosea 3:5
25I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.[ † ]Ezekiel 37:26Leviticus 26:6Job 5:22-23Isaiah 11:6-9Hosea 2:18Jeremiah 23:6 26I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. I will send down showers in season—showers of blessing.[ † ]Isaiah 56:7Genesis 12:2Isaiah 19:24Zechariah 8:13Leviticus 26:4Psalms 68:9 27The trees of the field will give their fruit, and the land will yield its produce; My flock will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and delivered them from the hands that enslaved them.[ † ]Leviticus 26:4Psalms 85:12Isaiah 4:2Leviticus 26:13Isaiah 52:2-3Jeremiah 2:20Jeremiah 25:14
28They will no longer be prey for the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not consume them. They will dwell securely, and no one will frighten them.[ † ]Jeremiah 30:10Ezekiel 39:26
29And I will raise up for them a garden of renown, and they will no longer be victims of famine in the land or bear the scorn of the nations.[ † ]Isaiah 11:1Ezekiel 36:29Ezekiel 36:3-6, 15 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.[ † ]Ezekiel 34:24Psalms 46:7-11Ezekiel 14:11Ezekiel 36:28
31‘You are My flock, the sheep of My pasture, My people, and I am your God,’ declares the Lord God.”[ † ]Psalms 100:3Jeremiah 23:1John 10:11