Against the Shepherds (=Kings) of Israel

¹The word of the Lord came to me: ²O mortal, prophesy against the shepherds^a of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them:

To the shepherds: Thus said the Lord God: Ah, you shepherds of Israel, who have been tending yourselves! Is it not the flock that the shepherds ought to tend? ³You partake of the fat,^b you clothe yourselves with the wool, and you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not tend the flock. ⁴You have not sustained the weak, healed the sick, or bandaged the injured; you have not brought back the strayed, or looked for the lost; but you have driven them with harsh rigor, ⁵and they have been scattered for want of anyone to tend them; scattered, they have become prey for every wild beast. ⁶My sheep stray through all the mountains and over every lofty hill; My flock is scattered all over the face of the earth, with none to take thought of them and none to seek them. ⁷Hear then, O shepherds, the word of the Lord! [ . . . ] ¹⁰Thus said the Lord God: I am going to deal with the shepherds! I will demand a reckoning of them for My flock, and I will dismiss them from tending the flock. The shepherds shall not tend themselves any more; for I will rescue My flock from their mouths, and it shall not be their prey. ¹¹For thus said the Lord God: Here am I! I am going to take thought for My flock and I will seek them out. ¹²As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some [animals] in his flock have gotten separated, so I will seek out My flock, I will rescue them from all the places to which they were scattered on a day of cloud and gloom. ¹³I will take them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and I will bring them to their own land, and will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses and in all the settled portions of the land. ¹⁴I will feed them in good grazing land, and the lofty hills of Israel shall be their pasture. There, in the hills of Israel, they shall lie down in a good pasture and shall feed on rich grazing land. ¹⁵I Myself will graze My flock, and I Myself will let them lie down—declares the Lord God. ¹⁶I will look for the lost, and I will bring back the strayed; I will bandage the injured, and I will sustain the weak; and the fat and healthy ones I will destroy. I will tend them rightly.

¹⁷And as for you, My flock, thus said the Lord God: I am going to judge between one animal and another.

To the rams and the bucks: ¹⁸Is it not enough for you to graze on choice grazing ground, but you must also trample with your feet what is left from your grazing? And is it not enough for you to drink clear water, but you must also muddy with your feet what is left? ¹⁹And must My flock graze on what your feet have trampled and drink what your feet have muddied? ²⁰Assuredly, thus said the Lord God to them: Here am I, I am going to decide between the stout animals and the lean. ²¹Because you pushed with flank and shoulder against the feeble ones and butted them with your horns until you scattered them abroad, ²²I will rescue My flock and they shall no longer be a spoil. I will decide between one animal and another.

²³Then I will appoint a single shepherd over them to tend them—My servant David. He shall tend them, he shall be a shepherd to them. ²⁴I the Lord will be their God, and My servant David shall be a ruler among them—I the Lord have spoken.