1. The word of the Lord came to me:
2. “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and say to them: This is what the Lord God says to the shepherds: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who have been feeding themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed their flock?
3. You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened animals, but you do not tend the flock.
4. You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
5. They were scattered for lack of a shepherd; they became food for all the wild animals when they were scattered.
6. My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. They were scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.
7. “Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord.
8. As I live” — the declaration of the Lord God — “because My flock has become prey and food for every wild animal since they lack a shepherd, for My shepherds do not search for My flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than My flock,
9. therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!
10. “This is what the Lord God says: Look, I am against the shepherds. I will demand My flock from them and prevent them from shepherding the flock. The shepherds will no longer feed themselves, for I will rescue My flock from their mouths so that they will not be food for them.
11. “For this is what the Lord God says: See, I Myself will search for My flock and look for them.
12. As a shepherd looks for his sheep on the day he is among his scattered flock, so I will look for My flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy and dark day.
13. I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, and bring them into their own land. I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, in the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the land.
14. I will tend them with good pasture, and their grazing place will be on Israel’s lofty mountains. There they will lie down in a good grazing place; they will feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
15. I will tend My flock and let them lie down.” This is the declaration of the Lord God.