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Ezekiel 34

God confronts Israel’s exploitative leaders and promises to gather his scattered people under one shepherd, with justice and peace.

God tells Ezekiel to prophesy against Israel’s shepherds, the leaders who have fed themselves while leaving the people scattered and exposed. He announces their removal and promises to seek his sheep, bring them home, and feed them in their own land. God also judges the strong sheep that trample and drive away the weak. The prophecy closes with the promise of one shepherd, God’s servant David, and a covenant of peace for Israel.

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2“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord GOD says: “Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn’t the shepherds feed the sheep?
3You eat the fat. You clothe yourself with the wool. You kill the fatlings, but you don’t feed the sheep.
4You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor.
5They were scattered, because there was no shepherd. They became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.
6My sheep wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill. Yes, my sheep were scattered on all the surface of the earth. There was no one who searched or sought.”
7“‘Therefore, you shepherds, hear the LORD’s word:
8“As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, and my shepherds didn’t search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn’t feed my sheep,
10The Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against the shepherds. I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep. The shepherds won’t feed themselves any more. I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.”
11“‘For the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I myself, even I, will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.
12As a shepherd seeks out his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that are scattered abroad, so I will seek out my sheep. I will deliver them out of all places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day.
13I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the watercourses, and in all the inhabited places of the country.
14I will feed them with good pasture, and their fold will be on the mountains of the height of Israel. There they will lie down in a good fold. They will feed on rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will cause them to lie down,” says the Lord GOD.
16“I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice.”’
17“As for you, O my flock, the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the male goats.
18Does it seem a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? And to have drunk of the clear waters, but must you foul the residue with your feet?
20“Therefore the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.
21Because you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad,
22therefore I will save my flock, and they will no more be a prey. I will judge between sheep and sheep.
23I will set up one shepherd over them, and he will feed them, even my servant David. He will feed them, and he will be their shepherd.
24I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken it.
25“‘I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause evil animals to cease out of the land. They will dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.
26I will make them and the places around my hill a blessing. I will cause the shower to come down in its season. There will be showers of blessing.
27The tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its increase, and they will be secure in their land. Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I have broken the bars of their yoke, and have delivered them out of the hand of those who made slaves of them.
28They will no more be a prey to the nations, neither will the animals of the earth devour them; but they will dwell securely, and no one will make them afraid.
29I will raise up to them a plantation for renown, and they will no more be consumed with famine in the land, and not bear the shame of the nations any more.
30They will know that I, the LORD, their God am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, says the Lord GOD.
31You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God,’ says the Lord GOD.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Ezekiel 34:23The promise of one shepherd, God’s servant David, places Israel’s future under a ruler who will feed the flock.
Ezekiel 34:11God takes responsibility for seeking the scattered sheep whom Israel’s leaders have failed to seek.
Ezekiel 34:16God’s care repairs the damage described earlier, while his justice brings judgment against the fat and strong.
Where this chapter reaches

Jeremiah shares the indictment of shepherds who scatter God’s people and the promise that God will gather the flock under faithful rule. John connects through the shepherd image: Jesus identifies himself as the good shepherd who cares for his sheep and gathers them into one flock.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which failure of Israel’s shepherds stands out to you, and what makes it so destructive?

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How does God’s judgment between sheep shape your understanding of his promised care?

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Questions people ask about Ezekiel 34

Who are the shepherds in Ezekiel 34?

The shepherds represent Israel’s leaders, whose duty was to care for the people. God accuses them of taking the flock’s resources while neglecting the sick and lost, and ruling with force. The chapter names no individual leader; its charge concerns those entrusted with oversight of Israel.

Who is David in Ezekiel 34:23?

David is the name given to the promised shepherd and prince whom God will place over his people. Since Ezekiel speaks long after King David’s lifetime, the promise looks ahead to renewed Davidic rule. Christians understand this messianic promise as fulfilled in Jesus, whose shepherd language in John echoes this chapter.

Why does God judge between sheep and sheep in Ezekiel 34?

The flock itself contains oppressors as well as victims. Some sheep consume the good pasture, ruin what remains, and push the weak away from food and water. God’s judgment therefore reaches beyond failed leaders to those among the people who use their strength to harm others.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).