1And the word of Yahweh came to me, saying:
2Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been shepherding themselves! Should not the shepherds shepherd the flock?
3You eat the fat, and you clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but the flock you do not shepherd.
4The weak you have not strengthened, and the sick you have not healed, and the injured you have not bound up, and the strayed you have not brought back, and the lost you have not sought; but with force you have ruled them, and with harshness.
5So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field, and they were scattered.
6My flock strayed over all the mountains and on every high hill; over all the face of the earth my flock was scattered, and there was no one searching and no one seeking.
7Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:
8As I live, declares the Lord Yahweh, surely because my flock has become plunder, and my flock has become food for every beast of the field for lack of a shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but the shepherds shepherded themselves and did not shepherd my flock—
9therefore, shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:
10Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my flock from their hand, and I will make them cease from shepherding the flock; the shepherds will no longer shepherd them. And I will rescue my flock from their mouth, and it will no longer be food for them.
11For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I myself will search for my flock and will seek them out.
12As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his sheep that are scattered, so I will seek out my flock; and I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of cloud and thick darkness.
13And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the lands, and I will bring them to their own soil; and I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
14In good pasture I will shepherd them, and on the mountain heights of Israel their fold will be; there they will lie down in a good fold, and rich pasture they will graze on the mountains of Israel.
15I myself will shepherd my flock, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord Yahweh.
16The lost I will seek, and the strayed I will bring back, and the injured I will bind up, and the sick I will strengthen; but the fat and the strong I will destroy—I will shepherd them with justice.
17And as for you, my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am judging between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.
18Is it too little for you that you graze the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? And that you drink the settled water, that you must foul the rest with your feet?
19And must my flock graze what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have fouled?
20Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: Behold, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
21Because with side and shoulder you push, and with your horns you gore all the weak until you have scattered them abroad,
22I will save my flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.
23And I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he will shepherd them—my servant David; he will shepherd them, and he will be their shepherd.
24And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David a prince in their midst; I, Yahweh, have spoken.
25And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and I will banish the harmful beast from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forests.
26And I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing; and I will send down the rain in its season—there will be showers of blessing.
27And the tree of the field will give its fruit, and the land will give its produce, and they will be on their own soil in security; and they will know that I am Yahweh when I break the bars of their yoke and rescue them from the hand of those who enslaved them.
28And they will no longer be plunder for the nations, and the beast of the land will not devour them; but they will dwell securely, with no one to make them afraid.
29And I will raise up for them a planting of renown, and they will no longer be swept away by famine in the land, and they will no longer bear the reproach of the nations.
30And they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord Yahweh.
31And you are my flock, the flock of my pasture; you are humankind, and I am your God, declares the Lord Yahweh.”
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