יחזקאל לד

The word of GOD came to me:

O mortal, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them:
To the shepherds: Thus said the Sovereign GOD: Ah, you shepherds of Israel, who have been tending yourselves! Is it not the flock that the shepherds ought to tend?

You partake of the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, and you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not tend the flock.

You have not sustained the weak, healed the sick, or bandaged the injured; you have not brought back the strayed, or looked for the lost; but you have driven them with harsh rigor,

and they have been scattered for want of anyone to tend them; scattered, they have become prey for every wild beast.

My sheep stray through all the mountains and over every lofty hill; My flock is scattered all over the face of the earth, with none to take thought of them and none to seek them.

Hear then, O shepherds, the word of GOD!

As I live—declares the Sovereign GOD: Because My flock has been a spoil—My flock has been a prey for all the wild beasts, for want of anyone to tend them since My shepherds have not taken thought of My flock, for the shepherds tended themselves instead of tending the flock—

hear indeed, O shepherds, the word of GOD:

Thus said the Sovereign GOD: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock. The shepherds shall not tend themselves anymore; for I will rescue My flock from their mouths, and it shall not be their prey.

For thus said the Sovereign GOD: Here am I! I am going to take thought for My flock and I will seek them out.

As shepherds seek out their flock when some [animals] in their flock have gotten separated, so I will seek out My flock, I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of cloud and gloom.

I will take them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them to their own land, and will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses and in all the settled portions of the land.

I will feed them in good grazing land, and the lofty hills of Israel shall be their pasture. There, in the hills of Israel, they shall lie down in a good pasture and shall feed on rich grazing land.

I Myself will graze My flock, and I Myself will let them lie down—declares the Sovereign GOD.

I will look for the lost, and I will bring back the strayed; I will bandage the injured, and I will sustain the weak; and the fat and healthy ones I will destroy. I will tend them rightly.

And as for you, My flock, thus said the Sovereign GOD: I am going to judge between one animal and another.
To the rams and the bucks:

Is it not enough for you to graze on choice grazing ground, but you must also trample with your feet what is left from your grazing? And is it not enough for you to drink clear water, but you must also muddy with your feet what is left?

And must My flock graze on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have muddied?

Assuredly, thus said the Sovereign GOD to them: Here am I, I am going to decide between the stout animals and the lean.

Because you pushed with flank and shoulder against the feeble ones and butted them with your horns until you scattered them abroad,

I will rescue My flock and they shall no longer be a spoil. I will decide between one animal and another.

Then I will appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them—My servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them.

I the ETERNAL One will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them—I, GOD, have spoken.

And I will grant them a covenant of friendship. I will banish vicious beasts from their land, and they shall live secure in the wasteland, they shall even sleep in the woodland.

I will make these and the environs of My hill a blessing: I will send down the rain in its season, rains that bring blessing.

The trees of the field shall yield their fruit and the land shall yield its produce. [My people] shall continue secure on its own soil. They shall know that I am GOD when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from those who enslave them.

They shall no longer be a spoil for the nations, and the beasts of the earth shall not devour them; they shall dwell secure and untroubled.

I shall establish for them a planting of renown; they shall no more be carried off by famine, and they shall not have to bear again the taunts of the nations.

They shall know that I the ETERNAL their God am with them and they, the House of Israel, are My people—declares the Sovereign GOD.

For you—My flock, the flock that I tend—are human; and I am your God—declares the Sovereign GOD.