⁴ You have not strengthened the weak or healed^(A) the sick or bound up^(B) the injured. You have not brought back the strays or searched for the lost. You have ruled them harshly and brutally.^{(C) 5} So they were scattered because there was no shepherd,^(D) and when they were scattered they became food for all the wild animals.^{(E) 6} My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill.^(F) They were scattered^(G) over the whole earth, and no one searched or looked for them.^(H)

⁷ “‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, because my flock lacks a shepherd and so has been plundered^(I) and has become food for all the wild animals,^(J) and because my shepherds did not search for my flock but cared for themselves rather than for my flock,^{(K) 9} therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ¹⁰ This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I am against^(L) the shepherds and will hold them accountable for my flock. I will remove them from tending the flock so that the shepherds can no longer feed themselves. I will rescue^(M) my flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.^(N)

¹⁶ For I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the injured, or feed the healthy, but will eat the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their hooves.