Old/New Testament

Renewal of Ezekiel’s Call

33 Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Son of man, speak to the children of your people and say to them: If I bring a sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them and set him for their watchman, ³ and he sees the sword come upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, ⁴ then whoever hears the sound of the trumpet and does not take warning, and a sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. ⁵ He heard the sound of the trumpet yet did not take warning. His blood shall be upon himself. But he who takes warning delivers his soul. ⁶ But if the watchman sees the sword come and does not blow the trumpet and the people are not warned and a sword comes and takes a person from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity. But his blood I will require from the hand of the watchman.

⁷ Now as for you, son of man: I have set you a watchman to the house of Israel. Therefore you shall hear a word from My mouth and warn them from Me. ⁸ When I say to the wicked, “O wicked man, you shall surely die,” and you do not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man shall die in his iniquity. But his blood I will require from your hand. ⁹ Nevertheless, if you on your part warn the wicked to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity. But you have delivered your soul.

God’s Justice and Mercy

¹⁰ Therefore as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel: Thus you have spoken, saying, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we pine away in them. How should we then live?” ¹¹ Say to them: As I live, says the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why will you die, O house of Israel?

¹² Therefore you, son of man, say to the sons of your people: The righteousness of a righteous man shall not deliver him in the day of his transgression. As for the wickedness of the wicked, he shall not fall by it in the day that he turns from his wickedness. Nor shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sins. ¹³ When I say to the righteous that he shall surely live and he so trusts in his righteousness that he commits iniquity, all his righteousness shall not be remembered. But for that iniquity of his that he has committed, he shall die. ¹⁴ Again, when I say to the wicked, “You shall surely die,” and he turns from his sin and does that which is lawful and right, ¹⁵ if the wicked man restores a pledge, gives back what he had robbed, walks in the statutes of life without committing iniquity, he shall surely live. He shall not die. ¹⁶ None of his sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him. He has done what is lawful and right. He shall surely live.

¹⁷ Yet the sons of your people say, “The way of the Lord is not right,” when their way is not right. ¹⁸ When the righteous turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, he shall die by it. ¹⁹ But if the wicked turns from his wickedness and does that which is lawful and right, he shall live by them. ²⁰ Yet you say, “The way of the Lord is not right.” O house of Israel, I will judge you, every one according to his ways.

The Fall of Jerusalem

²¹ In the twelfth year of our captivity, in the tenth month, on the fifth day of the month, one who had escaped out of Jerusalem came to me, saying, “The city is taken.” ²² Now the hand of the Lord was upon me in the evening, before those who escaped came. And He opened my mouth at the time they came to me in the morning. Therefore my mouth was opened and I was speechless no more.

²³ Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: ²⁴ Son of man, those who inhabit these wastes in the land of Israel are saying, “Abraham was one, yet he inherited the land. But to us who are many, the land has been given for an inheritance.” ²⁵ Therefore say to them, Thus says the Lord God: You eat meat with the blood in it and lift up your eyes toward your idols as you shed blood. Should you then possess the land? ²⁶ You rely upon your sword, you work abominations, and every one of you defiles his neighbor’s wife. Should you then possess the land?

²⁷ Thus you shall say to them, Thus says the Lord God: As I live, surely those who are in the ruins shall fall by the sword, and him who is in the open field I will give to the beasts to be devoured, and those who are in the forts and in the caves shall die of pestilence. ²⁸ For I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pomp of her strength shall cease. And the mountains of Israel shall be desolate so that none shall pass through. ²⁹ Then shall they know that I am the Lord, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.

³⁰ As for you, son of man, the sons of your people are talking about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses; and they speak to one another, each saying to his brother, “Come now, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.” ³¹ They come to you as people come, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words; but they will not do them. For they do the lustful desires in their mouth, and their heart goes after their covetousness. ³² You are to them as a sensual song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear your words, but they do not do them.

³³ When this comes to pass, and it is coming to pass, then shall they know that a prophet has been among them.

A Prophecy Against Israel’s 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 those shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed the flock? ³ You eat the fat and clothe yourself with the wool; you kill those who are fed without feeding the flock. ⁴ The diseased you have not strengthened, nor have you healed that which was sick, nor have you bound up that which was broken, nor have you brought back that which was driven away, nor have you sought that which was lost. But with force and with cruelty you have subjugated them. ⁵ They were scattered because there was no shepherd. And they became meat to all the beasts of the field and were scattered. ⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains and upon every high hill. Indeed, My flock was scattered upon all the face of the earth, and no one searched or sought after 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 even became meat to every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock; but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. ¹⁰ Thus says the Lord God: I am against the shepherds. And I will require My flock from their hand and cause them to cease from feeding the flock. Nor shall the shepherds feed themselves anymore, for I will deliver My flock from their mouth so that they may not be meat for them.

The True Shepherd

¹¹ For thus says the Lord God: I, even I, will search for My sheep and seek them out. ¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered, so I will seek out My sheep and will deliver them out of all the places where they have been scattered in a cloudy and dark day. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers and in all the inhabited places of the country. ¹⁴ I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel their grazing ground shall be. There they shall lie on good grazing ground, and in a rich pasture they shall feed upon the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will feed My flock, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God. ¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost and bring back that which was driven away and bind up that which was broken and will strengthen that which was sick. But I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment.

¹⁷ As for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: I will judge between sheep and cattle, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Does it seem a small thing to you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ And as for My flock, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and between the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, ²² therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no more be a prey. And I will judge between one sheep and another. ²³ I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even My servant David. He shall feed them himself and be their shepherd. ²⁴ I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be prince among them. I the Lord have spoken.

²⁵ I will make with them a covenant of peace and will cause the wild beasts to cease from the land so that they dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing. And I will cause the showers to come down in their season. They shall be showers of blessing. ²⁷ The tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the ground shall yield its increase, and they shall be safe in their land. Then they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them out of the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beast of the land devour them. But they shall dwell safely and no one shall make them afraid. ²⁹ I will raise up for them a planting place of renown, and no more shall they be consumed with hunger in the land, nor shall they bear the shame of the nations anymore. ³⁰ Thus shall they know that I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people, says the Lord God. ³¹ As for you, My flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God, says the Lord God.

Tending the Flock of God

5 I exhort the elders who are among you, as one who is also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: ² Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, take care of them, not by constraint, but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly. ³ Do not lord over those in your charge, but be examples to the flock. ⁴ And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive a crown of glory that will not fade away.

⁵ Likewise you younger ones, submit yourselves to the elders. Yes, all of you be submissive one to another and clothe yourselves with humility, because

⁶ Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. ⁷ Cast all your care upon Him, because He cares for you.

⁸ Be sober and watchful, because your adversary the devil walks around as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. ⁹ Resist him firmly in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.

¹⁰ But after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called us to His eternal glory through Christ Jesus, will restore, support, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Final Greetings

¹² With the help of Silas, whom I consider to be a faithful brother to you, I have written briefly, exhorting you and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

¹³ The church that is at Babylon, elect together with you, greets you, and so does Mark, my son. ¹⁴ Greet one another with a kiss of love.

Peace be with all you who are in Christ Jesus. Amen.