Ezekiel 34-36

New American Standard Bible

Prophecy against the Shepherds of Israel

34 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, prophesy against the ^(A)shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to ^[a]those shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord ^[b]God says: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ^[c](B)feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not ^[d](C)feed the flock? ³ You ^(D)eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you ^(E)slaughter the fat sheep ^[e]without feeding the flock. ⁴ Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, ^(F)the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^(G)searched for the lost; but with force and with violence you have ^[f]dominated them. ⁵ They ^(H)scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ^(I)food for every animal of the field and scattered. ⁶ My flock ^(J)strayed through all the mountains and on every high hill; ^(K)My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was ^(L)no one to search or seek for them.”’”

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ “As I live,” declares the Lord God, “certainly, because My flock has become ^(M)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, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am ^(N)against the shepherds, and I will demand My ^[g]sheep ^[h]from them and make them ^(O)stop tending sheep. So the shepherds will not ^[i]feed themselves anymore, but I will ^(P)save My sheep from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’”

The Restoration of Israel

¹¹ For the Lord God says this: “Behold, I Myself will ^(Q)search for My sheep and look after them. ^12 (R)As a shepherd cares for his flock on a day when he is among his scattered ^[j]sheep, so I will ^(S)care for My ^[k]sheep and will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a ^(T)cloudy and gloomy day. 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 ^(U)feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^(V)streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them in a ^(W)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 ^[l](X)rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I Myself will ^(Y)feed My flock and I Myself will ^[m]lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the ^(Z)fat and the strong I will eliminate. I will ^(AA)feed them with judgment.

¹⁷ “As for you, My flock, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I am going to ^(AB)judge between one ^[n]sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Is it too ^(AC)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? ¹⁹ But as for My flock, they must eat what you trample with your feet, and drink what you muddy with your feet!’”

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. ²¹ Since you push away with your side and shoulder, and ^(AD)gore all the ^[o]weak with your horns until you have scattered them ^[p]abroad, ²² therefore, I will ^(AE)save My flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

²³ “Then I will ^(AF)appoint over them one ^(AG)shepherd, My servant ^(AH)David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant ^(AI)David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.

²⁵ “And I will make a ^(AJ)covenant of peace with them and ^(AK)eliminate harmful animals from the land, so that they may ^(AL)live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places around My hill a ^(AM)blessing. And I will make ^(AN)showers fall in their season; they will be showers of ^(AO)blessing. ²⁷ Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be ^(AP)secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have ^(AQ)broken the bars of their yoke and have saved them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the animals of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^(AR)live securely, and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹ I will establish for them a ^(AS)renowned planting place, and they will ^(AT)not again be ^[q]victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^(AU)endure the insults of the nations anymore. ³⁰ Then they will know that ^(AV)I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares the Lord God. ³¹ “As for you, My ^(AW)sheep, ^[r]the ^(AX)sheep of My pasture, you are mankind, and I am your God,” declares the Lord God.

Prophecy against Mount Seir

35 Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, set your face against ^(AY)Mount Seir, and prophesy against it ³ and say to it, ‘This is what the Lord ^[s]God says:

⁵ Since you have had everlasting ^(BC)hostility and have turned over the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the ^[t](BD)punishment of the end, ⁶ therefore as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will certainly ^[u]doom you to ^(BE)bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; since you have not hated bloodshed, therefore bloodshed will pursue you. ⁷ I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation and I will eliminate from it one who passes through and returns. ⁸ I will ^(BF)fill its mountains with its slain; those killed by the sword will fall on your hills, in your valleys, and in all your ravines. ⁹ I will make you a permanent ^(BG)desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹⁰ “Since you have ^(BH)said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess ^[v]them,’ although the ^(BI)Lord was there, ¹¹ therefore as I live,” declares the Lord God, “I will deal with you ^(BJ)according to your anger and according to your envy which you displayed because of your hatred for them; so I will ^(BK)make Myself known among them when I judge you. ¹² Then you will know ^[w]that I, the Lord, have heard all your insults which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are desolate; they have been ^(BL)given to us as food.’ ¹³ And you have ^[x](BM)spoken arrogantly against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; ^(BN)I Myself have heard it.” ¹⁴ This is what the Lord God says: “As all the ^(BO)earth rejoices, I will make you a desolation. ¹⁵ As you ^(BP)rejoiced over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, ^(BQ)so I will do to you. You will be a ^(BR)desolation, Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’

The Mountains of Israel to Be Blessed

36 “Now you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel and say, ‘You mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord. ² This is what the Lord ^[y]God says: “Since the enemy has spoken against you, ‘Aha!’ and, ‘The everlasting ^[z](BS)heights have become our possession,’ ³ therefore prophesy and say, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “^[aa]For good reason they have made you ^(BT)desolate and harassed you from every side, so that you would become a possession of the rest of the nations; and you have been taken up in the ^[ab](BU)talk and the rumor of the people.”’” ⁴ Therefore, you ^(BV)mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. This is what the Lord God says to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, to the desolate ruins and to the abandoned cities which have become ^(BW)plunder and an object of ridicule to the rest of the nations which are all around— ⁵ therefore the Lord God says this: “Certainly in the fire of My ^(BX)jealousy I have spoken against the ^(BY)rest of the nations, and against all Edom, who ^[ac]appropriated My land for themselves as a possession with wholehearted ^(BZ)joy and with contempt of soul, in order to make its pastureland plunder.” ⁶ Therefore prophesy in regard to the land of Israel and say to the mountains and to the hills, to the ravines and to the valleys, “This is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and in My wrath because you have ^(CA)endured the insults of the nations.’ ⁷ Therefore the Lord God says this: ‘I have ^[ad]sworn that the nations that are around you will certainly endure their insults themselves. ⁸ But as for you, mountains of Israel, you will ^[ae](CB)grow your branches and bear fruit for My people Israel; for they are about to come. ⁹ For, behold, I am for you, and I will ^(CC)turn to you, and you will be ^(CD)cultivated and sown. ¹⁰ And I will multiply people on you, ^(CE)all the house of Israel, all of it; and the ^(CF)cities will be inhabited and the ruins will be rebuilt. ¹¹ I will multiply on you people and animals, and they will increase and be fruitful; and I will populate you as you were ^(CG)previously, and treat you ^(CH)better than at the beginning. Then you will know that I am the Lord. ¹² Yes, I will have ^(CI)people—My people Israel—walk on you and possess you, so that you will become their ^(CJ)inheritance and never again ^(CK)bereave them of children.’

¹³ “The Lord God says this: ‘Since they say to you, “You are a ^(CL)devourer of people and have bereaved your nation of children,” ¹⁴ for that reason you will no longer devour people and no longer bereave your nation of children,’ declares the Lord God. ¹⁵ I will not let you hear ^(CM)insults from the nations anymore, nor will you suffer ^(CN)disgrace from the peoples any longer, nor will you make your nation ^(CO)stumble any longer,” declares the Lord God.’”

¹⁶ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ¹⁷ “Son of man, when the house of Israel was living on their own land, they ^(CP)defiled it by their ways and their deeds; their way before Me was like ^(CQ)the uncleanness of a woman in her impurity. ¹⁸ Therefore I ^(CR)poured out My wrath on them for the blood which they had shed on the land, because they had defiled it with their idols. ¹⁹ I also ^(CS)scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the lands. ^(CT)According to their ways and their deeds I judged them. ²⁰ When they came to the nations where they went, they ^(CU)profaned My holy name, because it was said of them, ‘These are the ^(CV)people of the Lord, yet they have left His land.’ ²¹ But I had ^[af]concern for My ^(CW)holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.

Israel to Be Renewed for His Name’s Sake

²² “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “It is ^(CX)not for your sake, house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. ²³ And I will ^(CY)vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the ^(CZ)nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I show Myself holy among you in their sight. ²⁴ For I will ^(DA)take you from the nations, and gather you from all the lands; and I will bring you into your own land. ²⁵ Then I will ^(DB)sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your ^(DC)filthiness and from all your ^(DD)idols. ²⁶ Moreover, I will give you a ^(DE)new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the ^(DF)heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will ^(DG)put My Spirit within you and bring it about that you walk in My statutes, and are careful and ^[ag]follow My ordinances. ²⁸ And you will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be ^(DH)My people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I ^(DI)will not ^[ah]bring a famine on you. ³⁰ Instead, I will ^(DJ)multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations. ³¹ Then you will ^(DK)remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your wrongdoings and your abominations. ³² I am not doing this ^(DL)for your sake,” declares the Lord God; “let that be known to you. Be ashamed and humiliated for your ways, house of Israel!”

³³ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your wrongdoings, I will populate the ^(DM)cities, and the ^(DN)places of ruins will be rebuilt. ³⁴ The desolated land will be cultivated instead of being a desolation in the sight of everyone who passes by. ³⁵ And they will say, ‘This desolated land has become like the ^(DO)Garden of Eden; and the waste, desolated and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited.’ ³⁶ Then the nations around you that are left will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolated; I, the Lord, have spoken, and I ^(DP)will do it.”

³⁷ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “This too I will let the house of Israel ask Me to do for them: I will increase their people like a flock. ³⁸ Like the ^(DQ)flock ^[ai]for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the waste cities be filled with ^(DR)flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”’”