²⁴ “Son of man, say to her, ‘You are a land that is ^(A)not clean or rained on in the day of indignation.’ ²⁵ There is a ^(B)conspiracy of her prophets in her midst like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have ^(C)devoured lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many ^(D)widows in the midst of her. ²⁶ Her ^(E)priests have done violence to My Law and have ^(F)profaned My holy things; they have made no ^(G)distinction between the holy and the ^[a]common, and they have not taught the difference between the ^(H)unclean and the clean; and they have closed their eyes from My Sabbaths, and I am defiled among them. ²⁷ Her leaders within her are like wolves tearing the prey, by shedding blood and ^(I)destroying lives in order to make ^(J)dishonest profit. ²⁸ And her prophets have coated with whitewash for them, seeing ^(K)false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘This is what the Lord God says,’ when the Lord has not spoken.

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ “As I live,” declares the Lord God, “certainly, because My flock has become ^(A)plunder, and My flock has become food for all the animals of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not search for My flock, but rather the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock, ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ ‘This is what the Lord God says: “Behold, I am ^(B)against the shepherds, and I will demand My ^[a]sheep ^[b]from them and make them ^(C)stop tending sheep. So the shepherds will not ^[c]feed themselves anymore, but I will ^(D)save My sheep from their mouth, so that they will not be food for them.”’”

The Restoration of Israel

¹¹ For the Lord God says this: “Behold, I Myself will ^(E)search for My sheep and look after them. ^12 (F)As a shepherd cares for his flock on a day when he is among his scattered ^[d]sheep, so I will ^(G)care for My ^[e]sheep and will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a ^(H)cloudy and gloomy day. ¹³ I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will ^(I)feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^(J)streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them in a ^(K)good pasture, and their grazing place will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down in a good grazing place and feed in ^[f](L)rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I Myself will ^(M)feed My flock and I Myself will ^[g]lead them to rest,” declares the Lord God. ¹⁶ “I will seek the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the ^(N)fat and the strong I will eliminate. I will ^(O)feed them with judgment.

²⁸ They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the animals of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^(A)live securely, and no one will make them afraid.