Dual Panel1This word of the LORD came to me:
2“Prophesy, O man, against the rulers of Israel. Prophesy and say to them: You shepherds, these are the words of the Lord GOD: Woe betide Israel's shepherds who care only for themselves! Should not the shepherd care for the flock?
3You consume the milk, wear the wool, and slaughter the fat beasts, but you do not feed the sheep.
4You have not restored the weak, tended the sick, bandaged the injured, recovered the straggler, or searched for the lost; you have driven them with ruthless severity.
5They are scattered abroad for want of a shepherd, and have become the prey of every wild beast. Scattered,
6my sheep go straying over all the mountains and on every high hill; my flock is dispersed over the whole earth, with no one to enquire after them or search for them.
7“Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD.
8As surely as I live, says the Lord GOD, because for lack of a shepherd my sheep are ravaged by all the wild beasts and have become their prey, because my shepherds have not taken thought for the sheep, but have cared only for themselves and not for the sheep --
9therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD.
10The Lord GOD says: I am against the shepherds and shall demand from them an account of my sheep. I shall dismiss those shepherds from tending my flock: no longer will they care only for themselves; I shall rescue my sheep from their mouths, and they will feed on them no more.
11“For the Lord GOD says: Now I myself shall take thought for my sheep and search for them.
12As a shepherd goes in search of his sheep when his flock is scattered from him in every direction, so I shall go in search of my sheep and rescue them, no matter where they were scattered in a day of cloud and darkness.
13I shall lead them out from the nations, gather them in from different lands, and bring them home to their own country. I shall shepherd them on the mountains of Israel and by her streams, wherever there is a settlement.
14I shall feed them on good grazing-ground, and their pasture will be Israel's high mountains. There they will rest in good pasture, and find rich grazing on the mountains of Israel.
15I myself shall tend my flock, and find them a place to rest, says the Lord GOD.
16I shall search for the lost, recover the straggler, bandage the injured, strengthen the sick, leave the healthy and strong to play, and give my flock their proper food.
17“The Lord GOD says to you, my flock: I shall judge between one sheep and another. As for you rams and he-goats,
18are you not satisfied with grazing on the best pastures, that you must also trample down the rest with your feet? Or with drinking clear water, that you must also muddy the rest with your feet?
19My flock has to graze on what you have trampled underfoot and drink what you have muddied.
20Therefore, the Lord GOD says to them: Now I myself shall judge between the fat sheep and the lean.
21You push aside the weak with flank and shoulder, you butt them with your horns until you have scattered them in every direction.
22Therefore I shall save my flock, and they will be ravaged no more; I shall judge between one sheep and another.
23“I shall set over them one shepherd to take care of them, my servant David; he will care for them and be their shepherd.
24I, the LORD, shall be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.
25I shall make a covenant with them to ensure peace and prosperity; I shall rid the land of wild beasts, and people will live on the open pastures and sleep in the woods free from danger.
26I shall settle them in the neighbourhood of my hill and bless them with rain in due season.
27Trees in the countryside will bear their fruit, the ground will yield its produce, and my people will live in security on their own soil. When I break the bars of their yokes and rescue them from the power of those who have enslaved them they will know that I am the LORD.
28They will never again be ravaged by the nations, nor will wild beasts devour them; they will live in security, free from terror.
29I shall make their crops renowned, and they will never again be victims of famine in the land, nor bear any longer the taunts of the nations.
30Then they will know that I, the LORD their God, am with them, and that they are my people Israel, says the Lord GOD.
31You are my flock, the flock I feed, and I am your God. It is the word of the Lord GOD.”