Open English Translation EZE Chapter 34

34 Then Yahweh gave me another message: 2 “Humanity’s child, prophesy against Yisrael’s shepherds. Prophesy and tell them that the master Yahweh says this to the shepherds: Yisrael’s shepherds who are shepherding themselves won’t end well. Shouldn’t shepherds guard the flock? 3 You eat the best sheep meat and dress in woollen clothes. You slaughter the fat lambs. You don’t shepherd at all. 4 You haven’t taken care of those with diseases, nor do you heal those who are ill. You don’t bandage up the ones with broken limbs, and you don’t restore the outcasts or search for those who’ve gone missing. Instead, you use strength and violence to rule over them. 5 Then they were scattered without a shepherd, and after they were scattered, they became food for all the wild animals in the countryside.[ref] 6 My flock has strayed across all the mountains and onto every high hill, and it’s dispersed over the entire surface of the earth, yet no one is searching for them.

7 Therefore, you shepherds, listen to Yahweh’s message to you: 8 This is the master Yahweh’s declaration: As I live, my flock has become plunder and food for all the wild animals in the countryside, because there wasn’t any shepherd and because none of my shepherds tried to find any of my flock that had gotten lost. Instead it was themselves that the shepherds looked after, and they didn’t shepherd my flock. 9 Therefore, you so-called ‘shepherds’, listen to Yahweh’s message: 10 The master Yahweh says this: Listen, I’m against those shepherds. I’ll require compensation from them for my flock, and then I’ll dismiss them from shepherding the flock. Those shepherds won’t shepherd themselves any longer either, because I’ll take my flock away from their mouths, so that my flock won’t become food for them any longer.

11 So the master Yahweh says this: Listen, I myself will search for those lost from my flock, and I myself will look after them, 12 like a shepherd searches for his sheep when he’s among his scattered flock. So I’ll look for my flock and I’ll rescue them from all the places where they were scattered during the dark times. 13 I’ll bring my people out from among the nations. I’ll gather them from foreign lands and bring them back to their land. I’ll put them in pastures on Yisrael’s mountainsides, by the streams, and in every settlement in the land. 14 I’ll put them in good pastures—Yisrael’s high mountains will be their grazing places. They’ll lie down there in places good for grazing, in abundant pastures, and they’ll graze on Yisrael’s hills. 15 I myself will shepherd my flock, and I myself will give them rest. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.

16 I’ll search out the lost and restore the outcast. I’ll bandage up those who are broken and heal those who are sick, but I’ll destroy those who are fat and well. I will shepherd with justice.

17 So now this is what the master Yahweh says, You, my flock, listen, I’ll be a judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and billy goats. 18 Isn’t it enough to feed on the good pasture? Do you have to trample down any remaining grass? Or drink from clear waters, then muddy the streams with your feet? 19 Must my flock eat what you’ve trampled and drink what you’ve muddied with your feet?

20 Therefore the master Yahweh says this to them: Listen, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the thin ones, 21 because you shepherds have pushed them with your sides and shoulders, and you’ve gored all the weak ones with your horns until you succeeded in scattering them away from the land. 22 I’ll save my flock and they’ll no longer be taken as plunder, and I’ll judge between one sheep and the next. 23 I’ll set one shepherd over them—my servant David. He’ll look after them, and he’ll be their shepherd.[ref] 24 Then I, Yahweh, will be their god, and my servant David will be a leader among them. I, Yahweh, have declared that.[ref]

25 Then I’ll make a peace treaty with them and remove the wild animals from the land, so that they’ll be able to live securely in the wilderness and sleep safely in the forests.

26 I’ll also bless both them and the places around my hill, and send out showers in the right season—they’ll be showers of blessing. 27 Then the trees in the countryside will produce their fruit, the soil will yield its produce, and my sheep will be secure in their land. When I break off the ties holding the yoke onto their necks, and when I rescue them from the control of those who enslaved them, then they’ll know that I am Yahweh. 28 They’ll no longer be plunder for the other nations, and the wild animals on the land will no longer devour them. Then they’ll live securely, and no one will make them afraid. 29 I’ll provide a land for them that’s known for its crops, so they won’t be victims of famine, and they won’t be mocked by other nations. 30 Then they’ll know that I, Yahweh their god, am with them. The Israeli people are my people. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.

31 You are my sheep, the flock of my pasture, and my people, and I am your god. That’s the master Yahweh’s declaration.’ ”