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A Prophecy against Israel’s Shepherds
Ezekiel 34:1–10 is a sharp word from Yahweh against Israel’s shepherds. Using the picture of shepherds and sheep, the passage exposes selfish carelessness and shows that Yahweh sees what has happened to his sheep.
Understanding the passage
The setting of this message
These verses begin when Yahweh’s word comes to Ezekiel with a command to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. The passage first states their failure, then describes the scattered condition of Yahweh’s sheep, and finally announces Yahweh’s judgement against the shepherds.
Ezekiel 34:1–10Main takeaway
Yahweh judges those responsible for his sheep when they serve themselves and neglect the care he names.
Explore the message
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A message against the shepherdsThe passage opens with Yahweh speaking and sending Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel.
Explanation
The passage opens with Yahweh speaking and sending Ezekiel to prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. The first accusation is direct: these shepherds feed themselves. The image in the passage contrasts shepherds, who are responsible for Yahweh’s sheep, with the sheep who should have been fed.
02What the shepherds took and what they failed to doYahweh says the shepherds used the sheep for gain. They ate the fat, clothed themselves with wool, and killed the fatlings, yet did not feed the sheep.
Explanation
Yahweh says the shepherds used the sheep for gain. They ate the fat, clothed themselves with wool, and killed the fatlings, yet did not feed the sheep. Their failure was also active neglect: they did not strengthen, heal, bind up, bring back, or seek those in need, and ruled with force and rigor.
03The condition of the scattered sheepBecause there was no shepherd, the sheep were scattered and became food for the animals of the field.
Explanation
Because there was no shepherd, the sheep were scattered and became food for the animals of the field. Yahweh repeats that his sheep wandered over mountains and high hills and across the earth. The repeated words show both distance and danger, and stress that nobody searched for them.
04Yahweh’s judgement on the shepherdsYahweh calls the shepherds to hear his word and states the reason for judgement again: his sheep became prey while the shepherds fed themselves and did not search for the sheep.
Explanation
Yahweh calls the shepherds to hear his word and states the reason for judgement again: his sheep became prey while the shepherds fed themselves and did not search for the sheep. Therefore Yahweh is against them, will require his sheep at their hand, stop their feeding, and deliver the sheep from them.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What does the passage contrast between feeding themselves and feeding the sheep?
Notice how Yahweh describes the shepherds taking fat, wool, and fatlings for themselves while the sheep are left unfed.
02Which missing actions in verse 4 describe the care the sheep should have received?
Read the list carefully and name each action the shepherds failed to do for the diseased, sick, broken, driven away, and lost.
03How does Yahweh describe both the sheep’s condition and his own response at the end of the passage?
Put together the words about being scattered and becoming prey with Yahweh’s decision to act against the shepherds and deliver his sheep.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Ezekiel 34:1–10
1Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
2“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy, and tell them, even the shepherds, ‘The Lord Yahweh 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 Yahweh’s word:
8“As I live,” says the Lord Yahweh, “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,
9therefore, you shepherds, hear Yahweh’s word!”
10The Lord Yahweh 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.”