¹⁵ I will feed My flock and I will let them lie down [to rest],” says the Lord God. ¹⁶ “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bandage the crippled, and strengthen the weak and the sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong [who have become hard-hearted and perverse]. I will feed them with judgment and punishment.^(A)

¹⁷ “And as for you, My flock, thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, I judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats [between the righteous and the unrighteous]. ¹⁸ Is it too little a thing for you that you [unrighteous ones who are well-fed] feed in the best pasture, yet you must trample down with your feet [of wickedness] the rest of your pastures? Or that you drink clear [still] water, yet you must muddy with your feet [of wickedness] the rest [of the water]? ¹⁹ As for My flock (the righteous), they must feed on what you trample with your feet and drink what you muddy with your feet!’”

²⁰ Therefore thus says the Lord God to them, “Behold, I Myself will judge between the [well-fed] fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you push with side and shoulder, and gore with your horns all those that have become weak and sick until you have scattered them away, ²² therefore, I will rescue My flock, and they shall no longer be prey; and I will judge between one sheep [ungodly] and another [godly].