Isa 56:10-12, Jer 10:21, 23:11-15, Eze 34:4-12, Zec 11:4-9 | ESV | STEP | His watchmen are blind ; they are all without knowledge ; they are all silent dogs ; they cannot bark , dreaming , lying down , loving to slumber .

10 ^aHis watchmen are blind;
they are all without knowledge;
they are all silent ^bdogs;
they cannot bark,
dreaming, lying down,
loving to slumber.
11 ^cThe dogs have a mighty appetite;
they never have enough.
But ^dthey are shepherds who have no understanding;
they have all turned to their own way,
^eeach to his own gain, one and all.
12 ^f“Come,” they say, “let me get wine;
let us fill ourselves with strong drink;
^gand tomorrow will be like this day,
great beyond measure.”

Jeremiah 10:21

21 ^hFor the shepherds ⁱare stupid
and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
^jand all their flock is scattered.

Jeremiah 23:11-15

11 ^k“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even ^lin my house I have found their evil,

declares the Lord.
12 ^mTherefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths ⁿin the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
^oin the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of ^pSamaria
^qI saw an unsavory thing:
^rthey prophesied by Baal
^sand led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
^tthey commit adultery and walk in lies;
^uthey strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
^vall of them have become like Sodom to me,
^wand its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^x“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
^yand give them ^zpoisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”

Ezekiel 34:4-12

4 ^aaThe weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, ^abthe injured you have not bound up, ^acthe strayed you have not brought back, ^adthe lost you have not sought, and with force and ^aeharshness you have ruled them. 5 ^afSo they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and ^agthey became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered; 6 they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, ^ahwith none to search or seek for them.

7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 ^aiAs I live, declares the Lord God, surely because ^ajmy sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep, 9 therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 10 Thus says the Lord God, ^akBehold, I am against the shepherds, and ^alI will require my sheep at their hand and ^amput a stop to their feeding the sheep. ^anNo longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. ^aoI will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

The Lord God Will Seek Them Out

11 “For thus says the Lord God: ^apBehold, I, I ^aqmyself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. 12 As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on ^ara day of clouds and ^asthick darkness.

Zechariah 11:4-9

4 Thus said the Lord my God: ^at“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 ^auThose who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, ^avI have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For ^awI will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of this land, declares the Lord. Behold, I will cause each of them to fall into the hand of his neighbor, and each into the hand of his king, and they shall crush the land, and I will deliver none from their hand.”

7 ^axSo I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^ayFavor, the other I named ^azUnion. ^baAnd I tended the sheep. 8 In one month ^bbI destroyed the three shepherds. But I became impatient with them, and they also detested me. 9 So I said, “I will not be your shepherd. ^bcWhat is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. And let those who are left devour the flesh of one another.”