Catholic Public Domain Version

Ezekiel 34:8-18 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

8. As I live, says the Lord God, since my flocks have become a prey, and my sheep have been devoured by all the wild beasts of the field, since there was no shepherd, for my shepherds did not seek my flock, but instead the shepherds fed themselves, and they did not feed my flocks:

9. because of this, O shepherds, listen to the word of the Lord:

10. Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will be over the shepherds. I will require my flock at their hand, and I will cause them to cease, so that they no longer refrain from feeding the flock. Neither will the shepherds feed themselves any more. And I will deliver my flock from their mouth; and it will no longer be food for them.

11. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will seek my sheep, and I myself will visit them.

12. Just as a shepherd visits his flock, in the day when he will be in the midst of his sheep that were scattered, so will I visit my sheep. And I will deliver them from all the places to which they had been scattered in the day of gloom and darkness.

13. And I will lead them away from the peoples, and I will gather them from the lands, and I will bring them into their own land. And I will pasture them on the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the settlements of the land.

14. I will feed them in very fertile pastures, and their pastures will be on the lofty mountains of Israel. There they will rest on the green grass, and they will be fed in the fat pastures, on the mountains of Israel.

15. I will feed my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord God.

16. I will seek what had been lost. And I will lead back again what had been cast aside. And I will bind up what had been broken. And I will strengthen what had been infirm. And I will preserve what was fat and strong. And I will feed them on judgment.

17. But as for you, O my flocks, thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, among rams and among he-goats.

18. Was it not enough for you to feed upon good pastures? For you even trample with your feet upon the remainder of your pastures. And when you drank the purist water, you disturbed the remainder with your feet.