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 I love you, Yahweh, my strength.

² Yahweh is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower.

³ I call on Yahweh, who is worthy to be praised; and I am saved from my enemies.

⁴ The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.

⁵ The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death came on me.

⁶ In my distress I called on Yahweh, and cried to my God. He heard my voice out of his temple. My cry before him came into his ears.

⁷ Then the earth shook and trembled. The foundations also of the mountains quaked and were shaken, because he was angry.

⁸ Smoke went out of his nostrils. Consuming fire came out of his mouth. Coals were kindled by it.

⁹ He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

¹⁰ He rode on a cherub, and flew. Yes, he soared on the wings of the wind.

¹¹ He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies.

¹² At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.

¹³ Yahweh also thundered in the sky. The Most High uttered his voice: hailstones and coals of fire.

¹⁴ He sent out his arrows, and scattered them; Yes, great lightning bolts, and routed them.

¹⁵ Then the channels of waters appeared. The foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, Yahweh, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils.

¹⁶ He sent from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters.

¹⁷ He delivered me from my strong enemy, from those who hated me; for they were too mighty for me.

¹⁸ They came on me in the day of my calamity, but Yahweh was my support.

¹⁹ He brought me forth also into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.

²⁰ Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness. According to the cleanness of my hands has he recompensed me.

²¹ For I have kept the ways of Yahweh, and have not wickedly departed from my God.

²² For all his ordinances were before me. I didn't put away his statutes from me.

²³ I was also blameless with him. I kept myself from my iniquity.

²⁴ Therefore Yahweh has rewarded me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight.

²⁵ With the merciful you will show yourself merciful. With the perfect man, you will show yourself perfect.

²⁶ With the pure, you will show yourself pure. With the crooked you will show yourself shrewd.

²⁷ For you will save the afflicted people, but the haughty eyes you will bring down.

²⁸ For you will light my lamp, Yahweh. My God will light up my darkness.

²⁹ For by you, I advance through a troop. By my God, I leap over a wall.

³⁰ As for God, his way is perfect. The word of Yahweh is tried. He is a shield to all those who take refuge in him.

³¹ For who is God, except Yahweh? Who is a rock, besides our God,

³² the God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect?

³³ He makes my feet like deer's feet, and sets me on my high places.

³⁴ He teaches my hands to war, so that my arms bend a bow of bronze.

³⁵ You have also given me the shield of your salvation. Your right hand sustains me. Your gentleness has made me great.

³⁶ You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.

³⁷ I will pursue my enemies, and overtake them. Neither will I turn again until they are consumed.

³⁸ I will strike them through, so that they will not be able to rise. They shall fall under my feet.

³⁹ For you have armed me with strength to the battle. You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.

⁴⁰ You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me, that I might cut off those who hate me.

⁴¹ They cried, but there was none to save; even to Yahweh, but he didn't answer them.

⁴² Then I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I cast them out as the mire of the streets.

⁴³ You have delivered me from the strivings of the people. You have made me the head of the nations. A people whom I have not known shall serve me.

⁴⁴ As soon as they hear of me they shall obey me. The foreigners shall submit themselves to me.

⁴⁵ The foreigners shall fade away, and shall come trembling out of their close places.

⁴⁶ Yahweh lives; and blessed be my rock. Exalted be the God of my salvation,

⁴⁷ even the God who executes vengeance for me, and subdues peoples under me.

⁴⁸ He rescues me from my enemies. Yes, you lift me up above those who rise up against me. You deliver me from the violent man.

⁴⁹ Therefore I will give thanks to you, Yahweh, among the nations, and will sing praises to your name.

⁵⁰ He gives great deliverance to his king, and shows loving kindness to his anointed, to David and to his seed, forevermore. For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.