The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

23 “^(A)Woe to the shepherds who are causing the ^(B)sheep of My pasture to ^(C)perish and are scattering them!” declares the Lord. ² Therefore this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says concerning the shepherds who are ^[a]tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not been concerned about them; behold, I am going to ^(D)call you to account for the ^(E)evil of your deeds,” declares the Lord. ³ “Then I Myself will ^(F)gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴ I will also raise up ^(G)shepherds over them and they will ^[b]tend them; and they will ^(H)not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, ^(I)nor will any be missing,” declares the Lord.

⁷ “^(Q)Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the Lord lives, who brought the sons of Israel up from the land of Egypt,’ ^8 (R)but, ‘As the Lord lives, who ^(S)brought up and led the descendants of the household of Israel back from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Denounced

¹⁵ Therefore this is what the Lord of armies says concerning the prophets:

²⁵ “I have ^(BD)heard what the prophets have said who ^(BE)prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a ^(BF)dream, I had a dream!’ ²⁶ How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, these prophets of the ^(BG)deceitfulness of their own heart, ²⁷ who intend to ^(BH)make My people forget My name by their dreams which they report to one another, just as their fathers ^(BI)forgot My name because of Baal? ²⁸ The prophet who has a dream may report his dream, but let him who has ^(BJ)My word speak My word truthfully. ^(BK)What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the Lord. ²⁹ “Is My word not like ^(BL)fire?” declares the Lord, “and like a ^(BM)hammer which shatters a rock? ³⁰ Therefore behold, ^(BN)I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who steal My words from each other. ³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the Lord, “who ^[g]use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares!’ ³² Behold, I am against those who have prophesied ^(BO)false dreams,” declares the Lord, “and reported them and led My people astray by their lies and ^(BP)reckless boasting; yet ^(BQ)I did not send them nor command them, nor do they ^(BR)provide this people the slightest benefit,” declares the Lord.

³³ “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the ^[h](BS)pronouncement of the Lord?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What ^[i]pronouncement?’ The Lord declares, ‘I will ^(BT)abandon you.’ ³⁴ Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The ^(BU)pronouncement of the Lord,’ I will bring punishment upon that person and his household. ³⁵ This is what each one of you will say to his neighbor and to his brother: ‘^(BV)What has the Lord answered?’ or, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁶ For you will no longer remember the pronouncement of the Lord, because every person’s own word will become the pronouncement, and you have ^(BW)perverted the words of the ^(BX)living God, the Lord of armies, our God. ³⁷ This is what you will say to that prophet: ‘What has the Lord answered you?’ and, ‘What has the Lord spoken?’ ³⁸ And if you say, ‘The pronouncement of the Lord!’ for that reason the Lord says this: ‘Because you said this word, “The pronouncement of the Lord!” I have also sent word to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The pronouncement of the Lord!’”’ ³⁹ Therefore behold, ^(BY)I will certainly forget you and thrust you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. ⁴⁰ I will put an everlasting ^(BZ)disgrace on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

² “Son of man, prophesy against the ^(A)shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to ^[a]those shepherds, ‘This is what the Lord ^[b]God says: “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ^[c](B)feeding themselves! Should the shepherds not ^[d](C)feed the flock? ³ You ^(D)eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool, you ^(E)slaughter the fat sheep ^[e]without feeding the flock. ⁴ Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, ^(F)the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^(G)searched for the lost; but with force and with violence you have ^[f]dominated them. ⁵ They ^(H)scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ^(I)food for every animal of the field and scattered. ⁶ My flock ^(J)strayed through all the mountains and on every high hill; ^(K)My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was ^(L)no one to search or seek for them.”’”

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: ⁸ “As I live,” declares the Lord God, “certainly, because My flock has become ^(M)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 ^(N)against the shepherds, and I will demand My ^[g]sheep ^[h]from them and make them ^(O)stop tending sheep. So the shepherds will not ^[i]feed themselves anymore, but I will ^(P)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 ^(Q)search for My sheep and look after them. ^12 (R)As a shepherd cares for his flock on a day when he is among his scattered ^[j]sheep, so I will ^(S)care for My ^[k]sheep and will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a ^(T)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 ^(U)feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^(V)streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will feed them in a ^(W)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 ^[l](X)rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I Myself will ^(Y)feed My flock and I Myself will ^[m]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 ^(Z)fat and the strong I will eliminate. I will ^(AA)feed them with judgment.

¹⁷ “As for you, My flock, this is what the Lord God says: ‘Behold, I am going to ^(AB)judge between one ^[n]sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Is it too ^(AC)little a thing for you to feed in the good pasture, that you must trample with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or too little for you to drink the clear waters, that you must muddy the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ But as for My flock, they must eat what you trample with your feet, and drink what you muddy with your feet!’”

²⁰ Therefore, this is what the Lord God says to them: “Behold, I, I Myself will also judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Since you push away with your side and shoulder, and ^(AD)gore all the ^[o]weak with your horns until you have scattered them ^[p]abroad, ²² therefore, I will ^(AE)save My flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

²³ “Then I will ^(AF)appoint over them one ^(AG)shepherd, My servant ^(AH)David, and he will feed them; he will feed them himself and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant ^(AI)David will be prince among them; I the Lord have spoken.

²⁵ “And I will make a ^(AJ)covenant of peace with them and ^(AK)eliminate harmful animals from the land, so that they may ^(AL)live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods. ²⁶ I will make them and the places around My hill a ^(AM)blessing. And I will make ^(AN)showers fall in their season; they will be showers of ^(AO)blessing. ²⁷ Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be ^(AP)secure on their land. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I have ^(AQ)broken the bars of their yoke and have saved them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the animals of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^(AR)live securely, and no one will make them afraid. ²⁹ I will establish for them a ^(AS)renowned planting place, and they will ^(AT)not again be ^[q]victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^(AU)endure the insults of the nations anymore. ³⁰ Then they will know that ^(AV)I, the Lord their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares the Lord God. ³¹ “As for you, My ^(AW)sheep, ^[r]the ^(AX)sheep of My pasture, you are mankind, and I am your God,” declares the Lord God.

Parable of the Good Shepherd

10 “Truly, truly I say to you, the one who does not enter by the door into the fold of the sheep, but climbs up some other way, he is ^(A)a thief and a robber.