The Righteous Branch

23 “^(A)Woe to the shepherds who are ^[a](B)destroying and scattering the ^(C)sheep of My pasture!” declares Yahweh. ² Therefore thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who are shepherding My people: “You have scattered My flock and banished them and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to ^(D)attend to you for the ^(E)evil of your deeds,” declares Yahweh. ³ “Then I Myself will ^(F)gather the remnant of My flock out of all the land where I have banished them and cause them to return to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. ⁴ I will also raise up ^(G)shepherds over them, and they will ^[b]shepherd them; and they will ^(H)not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, ^(I)nor will any be left unattended,” declares Yahweh.

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

False Prophets Condemned

¹⁵ Therefore thus says Yahweh of hosts concerning the prophets,

¹⁶ Thus says Yahweh of hosts,

²⁵ “I have ^(BD)heard what the prophets have said who ^(BE)prophesy a lie 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 a lie, even these prophets of the ^(BG)deception of their own heart, ²⁷ who intend to ^(BH)make My people forget My name by their dreams which they recount to one another, just as their fathers ^(BI)forgot My name because of Baal? ²⁸ The prophet who has a dream may recount his dream, but let him who has ^(BJ)My word speak My word in truth. ^(BK)What does straw have in common with grain?” declares Yahweh. ²⁹ “Is not My word like ^(BL)fire?” declares Yahweh, “and like a ^(BM)hammer which shatters a rock? ³⁰ Therefore behold, ^(BN)I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who steal My words from each other. ³¹ Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares Yahweh, “who take their tongues and declare, ‘Yahweh declares.’ ³² Behold, I am against those who have prophesied ^(BO)lying dreams,” declares Yahweh, “and who recounted them and led My people astray by their lying and ^(BP)reckless boasting; yet ^(BQ)I did not send them, and I did not command them, and they do not ^(BR)furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares Yahweh.

³³ “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you, saying, ‘What is the ^[h](BS)oracle of Yahweh?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ Yahweh declares, ‘I will ^(BT)abandon you.’ ³⁴ Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The ^(BU)oracle of Yahweh,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. ³⁵ Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘^(BV)What has Yahweh answered?’ or, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ ³⁶ For you will no longer remember the oracle of Yahweh because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have ^(BW)perverted the words of the ^(BX)living God, Yahweh of hosts, our God. ³⁷ Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has Yahweh answered you?’ and, ‘What has Yahweh spoken?’ ³⁸ For if you all say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’ surely thus says Yahweh, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of Yahweh!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of Yahweh!’”’ ³⁹ Therefore behold, ^(BY)I will surely forget you and abandon you, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers, so that you are out of My presence. ⁴⁰ I will put an everlasting ^(BZ)reproach 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, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been ^[b](B)shepherding themselves! Should not the shepherds ^(C)shepherd the flock? ³ You ^(D)eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you ^(E)sacrifice the fat sheep without shepherding the flock. ⁴ Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, and the ^[c]diseased you have not healed, and ^(F)the broken you have not bound up, and the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you ^(G)searched for the lost; but with strength and with severity you have dominated them. ⁵ They were ^(H)scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became ^(I)food for every beast of the field and were scattered. ⁶ My flock ^(J)wandered 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 seek or search for them.”’”

⁷ Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: ⁸ “As I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “surely because My flock has become ^(M)plunder, My flock has even become food for all the beasts of the field for lack of a shepherd, and My shepherds did not seek for My flock, but rather the shepherds shepherded themselves and did not shepherd My flock; ⁹ therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: ¹⁰ ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I am ^(N)against the shepherds, and I will seek My flock from their hand and make them ^(O)cease from shepherding the flock. So the shepherds will not shepherd themselves anymore, but I will ^(P)deliver My flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them.”’”

Yahweh Will Shepherd His Flock

¹¹ For thus says Lord Yahweh, “Behold, I Myself will ^(Q)seek My sheep and care for them. ^12 (R)As a shepherd ^[d]cares for his herd in the day when he is among his ^[e]sheep which are spread out, so I will ^[f](S)care for My ^[g]sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which 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)shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, by the ^(V)streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land. ¹⁴ I will shepherd them in a ^(W)good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and be shepherded in ^[h](X)rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. ¹⁵ I will ^(Y)shepherd My flock, and I will make them lie down,” declares Lord Yahweh. ¹⁶ “I will search for the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the ^(Z)fat and the strong I will destroy. I will ^(AA)shepherd them with judgment.

¹⁷ “As for you, My flock, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will ^(AB)judge between one ^[i]sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats. ¹⁸ Is it too ^(AC)slight a thing for you that you should be shepherded in the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures? Or that you should drink of the clear waters, that you must ^[j]foul the rest with your feet? ¹⁹ As for My flock, they must be shepherded on what you tread down with your feet and drink what you ^[k]foul with your feet!’”

²⁰ Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. ²¹ Because you push with side and with shoulder, and ^(AD)thrust at all the sickly with your horns until you have scattered them ^[l]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)establish over them one ^(AG)shepherd, My servant ^(AH)David, and he will shepherd them; he will shepherd them himself and be their shepherd. ²⁴ And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and My servant ^(AI)David will be prince among them; I, Yahweh, have spoken.

Yahweh’s Covenant of Peace

²⁵ “I will cut a ^(AJ)covenant of peace with them and ^(AK)cause harmful beasts to cease 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 all around My hill a ^(AM)blessing. And I will cause ^(AN)showers to come down 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 Yahweh, when I have ^(AQ)broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them. ²⁸ They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will ^(AR)live securely, and no one will make them tremble. ²⁹ I will establish for them a ^[m](AS)renowned planting place, and they will ^(AT)not again be ^[n]victims of famine in the land, and they will not ^(AU)bear the dishonor of the nations anymore. ³⁰ Then they will know that ^(AV)I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares Lord Yahweh. ³¹ “As for you, My ^(AW)sheep, the ^(AX)sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God,” declares Lord Yahweh.

I Am the Good Shepherd

10 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he 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.