Ezekiel 34:5

Ezekiel 34:5 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)And they were scattered, because there is no shepherd: and they became meat to all the beasts of the field, when they were scattered.
• New International Version (NIV)So they were scattered because there was no shepherd, and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.
• English Standard Version (ESV)So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered;
• New King James Version (NKJV)So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.

Context of Ezekiel 34:5

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. So 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.

Ezekiel 34:5 word by word

וַתְּפוּצֶ֖ינָה מִבְּלִ֣י רֹעֶ֑ה וַתִּהְיֶ֧ינָה לְאָכְלָ֛ה לְכָל־חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה וַתְּפוּצֶֽינָה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• And they were scatteredפּוּץpûts · to scatterH6327
• no shepherdרָעָהrâ‛âh · to pastureH7462
• and they became meatאׇכְלָה'ôklâh · foodH402
• to all the beastsחַיָּהchay · living thingH2416
• of the fieldשָׂדֶהώâdeh ώâday · land: wildlifeH7704

Cross-references for Ezekiel 34:5

• Ezekiel 34:6My 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.
• Ezekiel 33:21This is what happened 12 years after we had come to Babylon as prisoners. It was on the 5th day of the 10th month of that year. A man who had escaped from Jerusalem came to me in Babylon. He said, ‘Enemies have taken Jerusalem for themselves.’
• 1 Kings 22:17Then Micaiah said, ‘I saw the whole army of Israel and they were walking about on the hills without any leader. They were like sheep with no shepherd as their guide. The Lord told me, “These people have no master. They should go home quietly and they should not fight.” ’
• 2 Chronicles 18:16Then Micaiah said, ‘I saw the whole army of Israel and they were walking about on the hills without any leader. They were like sheep with no shepherd as their guide. The Lord told me, “These people have no master. They should go home quietly and they should not fight.” ’
• Jeremiah 23:2So the Lord, Israel's God, says to the leaders who rule over his people, ‘You have not taken care of my people. You have chased them away to other places. So now I will come and punish you, because of the evil things that you have done. I, the Lord, tell you that!
• Jeremiah 50:6My people have been like sheep that are lost. Their leaders should have taken care of them like shepherds. Instead, they have let my people become lost, like sheep that have gone into the mountains. They go from one hill to another hill, and they have forgotten where their home is.
• Zechariah 13:7‘Attack my shepherd with a sharp knife. Attack the man that is next to me,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘Kill the shepherd and then the sheep will run away. Then I will attack the young sheep.
• Matthew 9:36When Jesus saw the crowds of people, he felt sorry for them. They had trouble in their minds. They had nobody to help them. Jesus thought, ‘These people are like sheep that have nobody to take care of them.’
• Ezekiel 34:8My 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.
• Zechariah 10:2People ask idols for help, but the idols do not speak true words. Some people explain what a dream means. But they do not speak true words. The help that they give is not good. So the people move from place to place like sheep. They are not safe. They have no leaders.
• Isaiah 56:9‘Come here, you wild animals! Come, you wild animals that live in the forest! Come and eat my people!
• Jeremiah 12:9They attack me like hyenas, but vultures are ready to attack them. Tell all the wild animals to come, so that they can eat their dead bodies!
• John 10:2But the shepherd goes in through the gate.
• Acts 20:29I know that trouble will come to you after I leave. Bad people will come to teach you. They will cause trouble for the believers, like dangerous wild animals that attack sheep.

Commentaries on Ezekiel 34:5

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5And they were scattered - There was no discipline kept up; and the flock, the Church, became disorganized, and separated from each other, both in affection and fellowship. And the consequence was, the grievous wolves, false and worldly interested teachers, seized on and made a prey of them. Of the communion of saints such shepherds know nothing, farther than that it makes a part of the common creed.Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-6Woe to the shepherds: Israel’s leaders did not care for the weak or search for those who wandered away and were lost. They pursued their own interests, feeding themselves at the flock’s expense. They ruled the sheep with harshness and cruelty, similar to how the Egyptians treated the Israelites in the time of Moses (Exodus 1:13–14). The neglect and abuse by these cruel shepherds scattered the Lord’s flock across the earth.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. scattered, because ... no shepherd--that is, none worthy of the name, though there were some called shepherds (1Ki 22:17; Mt 9:36). Compare Mt 26:31, where the sheep were scattered when the true Shepherd was smitten. God calls them "My sheep"; for they were not, as the shepherds treated them, their patrimony whereby to "feed themselves." meat to all ... beasts--They became a prey to the Syrians, Ammon, Moab, and Assyria.Read the comment

Topics related to Ezekiel 34:5

• Levites
• Minister, Christian

In the dictionaries

• Cruelty
• Ezekiel, Book of
• Require
• Seek
• Ezekiel
• Sheep
• Shepherd
• Teach; Teacher; Teaching

Commentaries on Ezekiel 34

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings