New English Translation
Ezekiel 34:5
5They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast.
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 eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the choice animals, but you do not feed the sheep! 4You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost, but with force and harshness you have ruled over them. They were scattered because they had no shepherd, and they became food for every wild beast. 6My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them. 7“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
Read all of Ezekiel 34Ezekiel 34:5 word by word
וַתְּפוּצֶ֖ינָה מִבְּלִ֣י רֹעֶ֑ה וַתִּהְיֶ֧ינָה לְאָכְלָ֛ה לְכָל־חַיַּ֥ת הַשָּׂדֶ֖ה וַתְּפוּצֶֽינָה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Ezekiel 34:5
- Ezekiel 34:6My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.
- Ezekiel 33:21In the twelfth year of our exile, in the tenth month, on the fifth of the month, a refugee came to me from Jerusalem saying, “The city has been defeated!”
- 1 Kings 22:17Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’”
- 2 Chronicles 18:16Micaiah replied, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’”
- Jeremiah 23:2So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. I, the Lord, affirm it!
- Jeremiah 50:6“My people have been lost sheep. Their shepherds have allow them to go astray. They have wandered around in the mountains. They have roamed from one mountain and hill to another. They have forgotten their resting place.
- Zechariah 13:7“Awake, sword, against my shepherd, against the man who is my associate,” says the Lord who rules over all. Strike the shepherd that the flock may be scattered; I will turn my hand against the insignificant ones.
- Matthew 9:36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them because they were bewildered and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
- Ezekiel 34:8As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,
- Zechariah 10:2For the household gods have spoken wickedness, the soothsayers have seen a lie, and as for the dreamers, they have disclosed emptiness and give comfort in vain. Therefore the people set out like sheep and become scattered because they have no shepherd.
- Isaiah 56:9All you wild animals in the fields, come and devour, all you wild animals in the forest!
- Jeremiah 12:9The people I call my own attack me like birds of prey or like hyenas. But other birds of prey are all around them. Let all the nations gather together like wild beasts. Let them come and destroy these people I call my own.
- John 10:2The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
- Acts 20:29I know that after I am gone fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
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
In the dictionaries
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
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