Ezekiel 34:2-19

2‘Son of man, you must speak my message to the shepherds of Israel to warn them. Tell them, “This is what the Almighty Lord says: Terrible trouble will come to you shepherds of Israel who only think about yourselves. Shepherds should take care of the sheep and feed them.

3You drink their milk and you use their wool to make clothes for yourselves. You kill the best animals to eat. But you do not take care of the sheep!

4You have not helped the weak sheep to be strong. You have not made the sick sheep well. Nor have you covered their wounds. You have not looked for lost sheep and brought them back. Instead, you have ruled my people in a cruel way.

5So my sheep ran away to different places because they did not have a shepherd to take care of them. Then the wild animals found them and ate them.

6My sheep went over all the mountains and the high hills. They went to places everywhere on the earth. And nobody went to look for them and bring them back again.

7So, you shepherds, listen to the Lord's message.

8My sheep do not have any shepherds to take care of them. So they are not safe from danger. They have become food for all the wild animals. You, my shepherds, have not gone to look for the sheep that were lost. You only wanted to help yourselves instead of my sheep. So I, the Almighty Lord, promise you this, as surely as I live.

9You shepherds, listen to the Lord's message!

10The Almighty Lord says this: I have become the shepherds' enemy. I will take my sheep away from them. I will no longer allow them to be shepherds. They will not be able to kill my sheep to feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep, so that the shepherds cannot eat them.

11So this is what the Almighty Lord says: I myself will go and look for my sheep to bring them back.

12I will be like a shepherd who looks everywhere to find his lost sheep. I will find them and I will rescue them. I will bring them back from the places that they have run away to. It was a dark day with many clouds when they ran away.

13They have been living in foreign countries among other people. I will bring them back to live in their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel. They will eat beside its rivers and in all the places where people live.

14I will feed them in fields on Israel's mountains where grass grows. They will lie down in the good fields. They will eat the green grass that grows on the mountains.

15I myself will take care of my sheep. I will give them safe places to lie down and rest. I, the Almighty Lord, say this.

16I will find the lost sheep and I will bring them back. I will cover their wounds. I will help those who are weak to become strong. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will give them justice as their food!

17This is what I, the Almighty Lord, say to you, my sheep: I will judge you. I will decide which of you are good and which of you are bad. I will judge between male sheep and goats.

18You bad sheep make sure that you have plenty of good grass to eat. But then you spoil the other grass so that no other sheep can eat it. You have clean water to drink. But then you spoil the water which remains. It is too dirty for other sheep to drink.

19Because of that, my sheep eat grass that you have spoiled. They drink water that you have made dirty with your feet.