Irresponsible Shepherds

34 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, ² “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds: ^(A)“Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flocks? ^3 (B)You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you ^(C)slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock. ^4 (D)The weak you have not strengthened, nor have you healed those who were sick, nor bound up the broken, nor brought back what was driven away, nor ^(E)sought what was lost; but with ^(F)force and ^[a]cruelty you have ruled them. ^5 (G)So they were ^(H)scattered because there was no shepherd; ^(I)and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. ⁶ My sheep ^(J)wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.”

⁷ ‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ “As I live,” says the Lord God, “surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock ^(K)became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, ^(L)but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock”— ⁹ therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord! ¹⁰ Thus says the Lord God: “Behold, I am ^(M)against the shepherds, and ^(N)I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall ^(O)feed themselves no more; for I will ^(P)deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them.”

God, the True Shepherd

¹¹ ‘For thus says the Lord God: “Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out. ¹² As a ^(Q)shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on ^(R)a cloudy and dark day. ¹³ And ^(S)I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, ^[b]in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country. ^14 (T)I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. ^(U)There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down,” says the Lord God. ^16 (V)“I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy ^(W)the fat and the strong, and feed them ^(X)in judgment.”

¹⁷ ‘And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: ^(Y)“Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats. ¹⁸ Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the ^[c]residue of your pasture—and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet? ¹⁹ And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet.”

²⁰ ‘Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: ^(Z)“Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad, ²² therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep. ²³ I will establish one ^(AA)shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—^(AB)My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And ^(AC)I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David ^(AD)a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.

^25 (AE)“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and ^(AF)cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they ^(AG)will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places all around ^(AH)My hill ^(AI)a blessing; and I will ^(AJ)cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be ^(AK)showers of blessing. ²⁷ Then ^(AL)the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase. They shall be safe in their land; and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have ^(AM)broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them from the hand of those who ^(AN)enslaved them. ²⁸ And they shall no longer be a prey for the nations, nor shall beasts of the land devour them; but ^(AO)they shall dwell safely, and no one shall make them afraid. ²⁹ I will raise up for them a ^(AP)garden^[d] of renown, and they shall ^(AQ)no longer be consumed with hunger in the land, ^(AR)nor bear the shame of the Gentiles anymore. ³⁰ Thus they shall know that ^(AS)I, the Lord their God, am with them, and they, the house of Israel, are ^(AT)My people,” says the Lord God.’

³¹ “You are My ^(AU)flock, the flock of My pasture; you are men, and I am your God,” says the Lord God.

Abominations in the Temple

8 And it came to pass in the sixth year, in the sixth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I sat in my house with ^(A)the elders of Judah sitting before me, that ^(B)the hand of the Lord God fell upon me there. ^2 (C)Then I looked, and there was a likeness, like the appearance of fire—from the appearance of His waist and downward, fire; and from His waist and upward, like the appearance of brightness, ^(D)like the color of amber. ³ He ^(E)stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my hair; and ^(F)the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven, and ^(G)brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the north gate of the inner court, ^(H)where the seat of the image of jealousy was, which ^(I)provokes^[a] to jealousy. ⁴ And behold, the ^(J)glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I ^(K)saw in the plain.

⁵ Then He said to me, “Son of man, lift your eyes now toward the north.” So I lifted my eyes toward the north, and there, north of the altar gate, was this image of jealousy in the entrance.

⁶ Furthermore He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great ^(L)abominations that the house of Israel commits here, to make Me go far away from My sanctuary? Now turn again, you will see greater abominations.” ⁷ So He brought me to the door of the court; and when I looked, there was a hole in the wall. ⁸ Then He said to me, “Son of man, dig into the wall”; and when I dug into the wall, there was a door.

⁹ And He said to me, “Go in, and see the wicked abominations which they are doing there.” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw, and there—every ^(M)sort of ^(N)creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, ^[b]portrayed all around on the walls. ¹¹ And there stood before them ^(O)seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, and in their midst stood Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Each man had a censer in his hand, and a thick cloud of incense went up. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the room of his idols? For they say, ^(P)‘The Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land.’ ”

¹³ And He said to me, “Turn again, and you will see greater abominations that they are doing.” ¹⁴ So He brought me to the door of the north gate of the Lord’s house; and to my dismay, women were sitting there weeping for ^[c]Tammuz.

¹⁵ Then He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these.” ¹⁶ So He brought me into the inner court of the Lord’s house; and there, at the door of the temple of the Lord, ^(Q)between the porch and the altar, ^(R)were about twenty-five men ^(S)with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping ^(T)the sun toward the east.

¹⁷ And He said to me, “Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have ^(U)filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. ^18 (V)Therefore I also will act in fury. My ^(W)eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they ^(X)cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”