Jer 23, Eze 34, Zec 11 | ESV | STEP | Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture ! declares the Lord .

1 ^a“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the Lord. 2 Therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning ^bthe shepherds who care for my people: “You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them. ^cBehold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the Lord. 3 ^dThen I will gather the remnant of my flock ^eout of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, ^fand they shall be fruitful and multiply. 4 ^gI will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.

5 ^h“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous ⁱBranch, and ^jhe shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. 6 In his days Judah will be saved, and ^kIsrael will ^ldwell securely. And this is the name by which he will be called: ^m‘The Lord is our righteousness.’

7 ⁿ“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ 8 but ‘As the Lord lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew I} had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”

Lying Prophets

9 Concerning the prophets:

^pMy heart is broken within me;
^qall my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the Lord
and because of his holy words.
10 ^rFor the land is full of adulterers;
^sbecause of the curse ^tthe land mourns,
and ^uthe pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
^vTheir course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 ^w“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even ^xin my house I have found their evil,

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

declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of ^abSamaria
^acI saw an unsavory thing:
^adthey prophesied by Baal
^aeand led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
^afthey commit adultery and walk in lies;
^agthey strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
^ahall of them have become like Sodom to me,
^aiand its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
15 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts concerning the prophets:
^aj“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
^akand give them ^alpoisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
16 Thus says the Lord of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, ^amfilling you with vain hopes. ^anThey speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, ^ao‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who ^apstubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ^aq‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”

18 For ^arwho among them has stood in the council of the Lord
to see and to hear his word,
or who has paid attention to his word and listened?
19 ^asBehold, the storm of the Lord!
Wrath has gone forth,
^ata whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
20 ^auThe anger of the Lord will not turn back
until he has executed and ^avaccomplished
the intents of his heart.
^awIn the latter days you will understand it clearly.
21 ^ax“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
22 ^ayBut if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed my words to my people,
^azand they would have turned them from their evil way,
and ^bafrom the evil of their deeds.
23 ^bb“Am I a God at hand, declares the Lord, and not a God far away? 24 ^bcCan a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the Lord. ^bdDo I not fill heaven and earth? declares the Lord. 25 I have heard what the prophets have said ^bewho prophesy lies in my name, saying, ^bf‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’ 26 How long shall there be lies in the heart of ^bgthe prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart, 27 who think to make my people forget my name ^bhby their dreams that they tell one another, even as their ^bifathers forgot my name for Baal? 28 ^bjLet the prophet who has a dream ^bktell the dream, but let him who has my word speak my word faithfully. ^blWhat has straw in common with wheat? declares the Lord. 29 ^bmIs not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and ^bnlike a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? 30 ^boTherefore, behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who steal my words from one another. 31 Behold, I am against the prophets, declares the Lord, who use their tongues and declare, ‘declares the Lord.’ 32 Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the Lord, and who tell them and ^bplead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness, when ^bqI did not send them or charge them. So they do not profit this people at all, declares the Lord.

33 ^br“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the Lord?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden, ^{▼▼Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew What burden?} and ^btI will cast you off, declares the Lord.’ 34 And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ ^buI will punish that man and his household. 35 Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the Lord answered?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 36 But ‘the burden of the Lord’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and ^bvyou pervert the words of ^bwthe living God, the Lord of hosts, our God. 37 Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ or ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ 38 But if you say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’ thus says the Lord, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the Lord,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the Lord,’” 39 therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and ^bxcast you away from my presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers. 40 ^byAnd I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and ^bzperpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”

Ezekiel 34

Prophecy Against the Shepherds of Israel

1 The word of the Lord came to me: 2 ^ca“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord God: ^cbAh, shepherds of Israel ^ccwho have been feeding yourselves! ^cdShould not shepherds feed the sheep? 3 ^ceYou eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, ^cfyou slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep. 4 ^cgThe weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, ^chthe injured you have not bound up, ^cithe strayed you have not brought back, ^cjthe lost you have not sought, and with force and ^ckharshness you have ruled them. 5 ^clSo they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and ^cmthey 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, ^cnwith none to search or seek for them.

7 “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: 8 ^coAs I live, declares the Lord God, surely because ^cpmy 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, ^cqBehold, I am against the shepherds, and ^crI will require my sheep at their hand and ^csput a stop to their feeding the sheep. ^ctNo longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. ^cuI 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: ^cvBehold, I, I ^cwmyself 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 ^cxa day of clouds and ^cythick darkness. 13 And I will bring them out from the peoples ^czand gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on ^dathe mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country. 14 ^dbI will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. ^dcThere they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. 15 ^ddI myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, ^deand I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. 16 ^dfI will seek the lost, ^dgand I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and ^dhthe fat and the strong I will destroy. ^{▼▼Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate I will watch over} I will feed them in justice.

17 “As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God: ^djBehold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and ^dkmale goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of ^dlclear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet? 19 And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

20 “Therefore, thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21 Because you push with side and shoulder, and ^dmthrust at all the ^dnweak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad, 22 I will rescue ^{▼▼Or save} my flock; ^dpthey shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep. 23 And ^dqI will set up over them one shepherd, ^drmy servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd. 24 And ^dsI, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. ^dtI am the Lord; I have spoken.

The Lord’s Covenant of Peace

25 ^du“I will make with them a covenant of peace and ^dvbanish wild beasts from the land, ^dwso that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. 26 And I will make them and the places all around my hill ^dxa blessing, and ^dyI will send down the showers in their season; they shall be ^dzshowers of blessing. 27 ^eaAnd the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, ^eband they shall be secure in their land. And ^ecthey shall know that I am the Lord, when ^edI break the bars of their yoke, and ^eedeliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them. 28 ^efThey shall no more be a prey to the nations, ^egnor shall the beasts of the land devour them. ^ehThey shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid. 29 And I will provide for them ^eirenowned plantations so that ^ejthey shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer ^eksuffer the reproach of the nations. 30 And they shall know that ^elI am the Lord their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord God. 31 And you are my sheep, ^emhuman sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God.”

Zechariah 11

The Flock Doomed to Slaughter

1 Open your doors, ^enO Lebanon,
that the fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, O cypress, for the cedar has fallen,
for the glorious trees are ruined!
Wail, ^eooaks of Bashan,
for the thick forest has been felled!
3 The sound of ^epthe wail of ^eqthe shepherds,
for their glory is ruined!
The sound of the roar of ^erthe lions,
^esfor the thicket of the Jordan is ruined!
4 Thus said the Lord my God: ^et“Become shepherd of the flock doomed to slaughter. 5 ^euThose who buy them slaughter them and go unpunished, and those who sell them say, ‘Blessed be the Lord, ^evI have become rich,’ and their own shepherds have no pity on them. 6 For ^ewI 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 ^exSo I became the shepherd of the flock doomed to be slaughtered by the sheep traders. And I took two staffs, one I named ^eyFavor, the other I named ^ezUnion. ^faAnd I tended the sheep. 8 In one month ^fbI 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. ^fcWhat 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.” 10 And I took ^fdmy staff Favor, and I broke it, annulling the covenant that I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was annulled on that day, and the sheep traders, who were watching me, knew that it was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages ^fethirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”— ^ffthe lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the ^fgthirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter. 14 Then I broke ^fhmy second staff Union, annulling the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

15 Then the Lord said to me, “Take once more the equipment of ^fia foolish shepherd. 16 For behold, I am raising up in the land a shepherd ^fjwho does not care for those being destroyed, or seek the young or heal the maimed or nourish the healthy, but ^fkdevours the flesh of the fat ones, tearing off even their hoofs.

17 ^fl“Woe to my worthless shepherd,
^fmwho deserts the flock!
May the sword strike his arm
and ^fnhis right eye!
Let his arm be wholly withered,
his right eye utterly blinded!”