Ezekiel 34:10

“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” says Yahweh.

Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!

I will give you shepherds according to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Yahweh assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. I am anointed with fresh oil.

He will feed his flock like a shepherd. He will gather the lambs in his arm, and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead those who have their young.

“But when the righteous turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, should he live? None of his righteous deeds that he has done will be remembered. In his trespass that he has trespassed, and in his sin that he has sinned, in them he shall die.

We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God, and does his will, he listens to him.

But we beg you, brothers, to know those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you,

For Yahweh’s eyes run back and forth throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. You have done foolishly in this; for from now on you will have wars.”

For I was ashamed to ask of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the way, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is on all those who seek him, for good; but his power and his wrath is against all those who forsake him.”

Yahweh’s eyes are toward the righteous. His ears listen to their cry.

You have loved righteousness, and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

Yahweh is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.

Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,

Remember your leaders, men who spoke to you the word of God, and considering the results of their conduct, imitate their faith.

I will also tear your kerchiefs, and deliver my people out of your hand, and they will be no more in your hand to be hunted. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

But he answered, “Every plant which my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.

By your messengers, you have defied the Lord, and have said, “With the multitude of my chariots, I have come up to the height of the mountains, to the innermost parts of Lebanon, and I will cut down its tall cedars and its choice cypress trees; and I will enter into his farthest lodging place, the forest of his fruitful field.

Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.

Behold, Yahweh’s eye is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his loving kindness,

He makes wars cease to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and shatters the spear. He burns the chariots in the fire.

wine that makes the heart of man glad, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man’s heart.

Yahweh’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to Yahweh, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

As clouds and wind without rain, so is he who boasts of gifts deceptively.

The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?

For the shepherds have become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks have scattered.

“Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” says Yahweh, “who each steal my words from his neighbor.

“I will bring you out of the middle of it, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

For there will be no more any false vision nor flattering divination within the house of Israel.

You have profaned me among my people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to kill the souls who should not die, and to save the souls alive who should not live, by your lying to my people who listen to lies.’

“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will lift your skirts over your face. I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame.

You didn’t anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment.

All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.

For in your eating each one takes his own supper first. One is hungry, and another is drunken.

God has set some in the assembly: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracle workers, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, and various kinds of languages.

that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;

subjecting yourselves to one another in the fear of Christ.

Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and in teaching.

Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. The Italians greet you.

but you shall not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; for in the day that you eat of it, you will surely die.”

“It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked.

Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will prepare their heart. You will cause your ear to hear,

As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so Yahweh surrounds his people from this time forward and forever more.

But as for those who turn away to their crooked ways, Yahweh will lead them away with the workers of iniquity. Peace be on Israel.

Let your garments be always white, and don’t let your head lack oil.

The priests didn’t say, ‘Where is Yahweh?’ and those who handle the law didn’t know me. The rulers also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal and followed things that do not profit.

Their houses will be turned to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out my hand on the inhabitants of the land, says Yahweh.”

Therefore Yahweh says, “Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people. The fathers and the sons together will stumble against them. The neighbor and his friend will perish.”

Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard. They have trodden my portion under foot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.

Behold, I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, and of the rock of the plain,’ says Yahweh. ‘You that say, “Who would come down against us?” or “Who would enter into our homes?”

but you turned and profaned my name, and every man caused his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom you had let go free at their pleasure, to return. You brought them into subjection, to be to you for servants and for handmaids.’ ”

“I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes into the hands of their enemies, into the hands of those who seek their life and into the hands of the king of Babylon’s army, who has gone away from you.

They will bring out all your wives and your children to the Chaldeans. You won’t escape out of their hand, but will be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon. You will cause this city to be burned with fire.’ ”

Why do you boast in the valleys, your flowing valley, backsliding daughter? You trusted in her treasures, saying, ‘Who will come to me?’

“ ‘Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “Because you have spoken falsehood and seen lies, therefore, behold, I am against you,” says the Lord Yahweh.

has lent with interest, and has taken increase from the poor; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations. He shall surely die. His blood will be on him.

The soul who sins, he shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be on him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be on him.

When the righteous man turns away from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and dies therein; in his iniquity that he has done he shall die.

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?

“Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.

My anger is kindled against the shepherds, and I will punish the male goats; For Yahweh of Armies has visited his flock, the house of Judah, and will make them as his majestic horse in the battle.

Woe to the worthless shepherd who leaves the flock! The sword will be on his arm, and on his right eye. His arm will be completely withered, and his right eye will be totally blinded!”

“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?

Jesus said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

For I know that after my departure, vicious wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

Therefore watch, remembering that for a period of three years I didn’t cease to admonish everyone night and day with tears.

For those who are such don’t serve our Lord, Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by their smooth and flattering speech, they deceive the hearts of the innocent.

that you also be in subjection to such, and to everyone who helps in the work and labors.

But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.”

For it would be better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.

Yet in the same way, these also in their dreaming defile the flesh, despise authority, and slander celestial beings.

Therefore in one day her plagues will come: death, mourning, and famine; and she will be utterly burned with fire; for the Lord God who has judged her is strong.

When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand.

therefore the Lord Yahweh says: ‘Behold, I, even I, am against you; and I will execute judgments among you in the sight of the nations.

Therefore you shall no more see false visions, nor practice divination. I will deliver my people out of your hand. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.’ ”

“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd. My shepherds didn’t search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep.”

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they watch on behalf of your souls, as those who will give account, that they may do this with joy, and not with groaning, for that would be unprofitable for you.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over.

Then the king of Babylon killed Zedekiah’s sons in Riblah before his eyes. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.

“Behold, I am against you, you proud one,” says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies; “for your day has come, the time that I will visit you.

“Again, when a righteous man turns from his righteousness, and commits iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he will die. Because you have not given him warning, he will die in his sin, and his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered; but I will require his blood at your hand.

Tell the land of Israel, ‘Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, and will draw my sword out of its sheath, and will cut off from you the righteous and the wicked.

But if the watchman sees the sword come, and doesn’t blow the trumpet, and the people aren’t warned, and the sword comes, and takes any person from among them; he is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman’s hand.’

“Therefore the Lord Yahweh says to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

therefore I will save my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep.

The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.

and tell it, ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “Behold, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out my hand against you. I will make you a desolation and an astonishment.

“Behold, I am against you,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions; and I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

Their buyers slaughter them, and go unpunished. Those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be Yahweh, for I am rich;’ and their own shepherds don’t pity them.

For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the meat of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.

For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears open to their prayer; but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;