¹ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

² Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep?

³ You eat the fat, and you clothe yourself with the wool, you kill the fatlings; but you don't feed the sheep.

⁴ You haven't strengthened the diseased, neither have you healed that which was sick, neither have you bound up that which was broken, neither have you brought back that which was driven away, neither have you sought that which was lost; but with force and with rigor you have ruled over them.

⁵ They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.

⁶ My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill: yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth; and there was none who searched or sought.

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

⁸ 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, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn't feed my sheep;

⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

¹⁰ Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.

¹¹ For thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

¹² As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.

¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

¹⁴ I will feed them with good pasture; and on the mountains of the height of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie down in a good fold; and on fat pasture shall they feed on the mountains of Israel.

¹⁵ I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down, says the Lord Yahweh.

¹⁶ I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but the fat and the strong I will destroy; I will feed them in justice.

¹⁷ As for you, O my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats.

¹⁸ Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? and to have drunk of the clear waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet?

¹⁹ As for my sheep, they eat that which you have trodden with your feet, and they drink that which you have fouled with your feet.

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh to them: Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

²¹ Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad;

²² therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.

²³ I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.

²⁴ I, Yahweh, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them; I, Yahweh, have spoken it.

²⁵ I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land; and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods.

²⁶ I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in its season; there shall be showers of blessing.

²⁷ The tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land; and they shall 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.

²⁸ They shall no more be a prey to the nations, neither shall the animals of the earth devour them; but they shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid.

²⁹ I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they shall be no more consumed with famine in the land, neither bear the shame of the nations any more.

³⁰ They shall know that I, Yahweh, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord Yahweh.

³¹ You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the Lord Yahweh.

¹ Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh's house, which looks eastward: and see, at the door of the gate twenty-five men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.

² He said to me, Son of man, these are the men who devise iniquity, and who give wicked counsel in this city;

³ who say, [The time] is not near to build houses: this [city] is the caldron, and we are the flesh.

⁴ Therefore prophesy against them, prophesy, son of man.

⁵ The Spirit of Yahweh fell on me, and he said to me, Speak, Thus says Yahweh: Thus you have said, house of Israel; for I know the things that come into your mind.

⁶ You have multiplied your slain in this city, and you have filled its streets with the slain.

⁷ Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Your slain whom you have laid in its midst, they are the flesh, and this [city] is the caldron; but you shall be brought forth out of its midst.

⁸ You have feared the sword; and I will bring the sword on you, says the Lord Yahweh.

⁹ I will bring you forth out of its midst, and deliver you into the hands of strangers, and will execute judgments among you.

¹⁰ You shall fall by the sword; I will judge you in the border of Israel; and you shall know that I am Yahweh.

¹¹ This [city] shall not be your caldron, neither shall you be the flesh in its midst; I will judge you in the border of Israel;

¹² and you shall know that I am Yahweh: for you have not walked in my statutes, neither have you executed my ordinances, but have done after the ordinances of the nations that are around you.

¹³ It happened, when I prophesied, that Pelatiah the son of Benaiah died. Then fell I down on my face, and cried with a loud voice, and said, Ah Lord Yahweh! will you make a full end of the remnant of Israel?

¹⁴ The word of Yahweh came to me, saying,

¹⁵ Son of man, your brothers, even your brothers, the men of your relatives, and all the house of Israel, all of them, [are they] to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said, Go far away from Yahweh. This land has been given to us for a possession.

¹⁶ Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Whereas I have removed them far off among the nations, and whereas I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them a sanctuary for a little while in the countries where they are come.

¹⁷ Therefore say, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: I will gather you from the peoples, and assemble you out of the countries where you have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel.

¹⁸ They shall come there, and they shall take away all the detestable things of it and all its abominations from there.

¹⁹ I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;

²⁰ that they may walk in my statutes, and keep my ordinances, and do them: and they shall be my people, and I will be their God.

²¹ But as for them whose heart walks after the heart of their detestable things and their abominations, I will bring their way on their own heads, says the Lord Yahweh.

²² Then did the cherubim lift up their wings, and the wheels were beside them; and the glory of the God of Israel was over them above.

²³ The glory of Yahweh went up from the midst of the city, and stood on the mountain which is on the east side of the city.

²⁴ The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to them of the captivity. So the vision that I had seen went up from me.

²⁵ Then I spoke to them of the captivity all the things that Yahweh had shown me.