October 19 - Ezekiel 34.1-16

Sponsored by DailyBible Email

The Shepherds of Israel

Ezekiel 34 The LORD spoke to me. 2"Mortal man," he said, "denounce the rulers of Israel. Prophesy to them, and tell them what I, the Sovereign LORD, say to them: You are doomed, you shepherds of Israel! You take care of yourselves, but never tend the sheep. 3You drink the milk, wear clothes made from the wool, and kill and eat the finest sheep. But you never tend the sheep. 4You have not taken care of the weak ones, healed the ones that are sick, bandaged the ones that are hurt, brought back the ones that wandered off, or looked for the ones that were lost. Instead, you treated them cruelly. 5Because the sheep had no shepherd, they were scattered, and wild animals killed and ate them. 6So my sheep wandered over the high hills and the mountains. They were scattered over the face of the earth, and no one looked for them or tried to find them.
7"Now, you shepherds, listen to what I, the LORD, am telling you. 8As surely as I am the living God, you had better listen to me. My sheep have been attacked by wild animals that killed and ate them because there was no shepherd. My shepherds did not try to find the sheep. They were taking care of themselves and not the sheep. 9So listen to me, you shepherds. 10I, the Sovereign LORD, declare that I am your enemy. I will take my sheep away from you and never again let you be their shepherds; never again will I let you take care only of yourselves. I will rescue my sheep from you and not let you eat them.

The Good Shepherd

11"I, the Sovereign LORD, tell you that I myself will look for my sheep and take care of them 12in the same way as shepherds take care of their sheep that were scattered and are brought together again. I will bring them back from all the places where they were scattered on that dark, disastrous day. 13I will take them out of foreign countries, gather them together, and bring them back to their own land. I will lead them back to the mountains and the streams of Israel and will feed them in pleasant pastures. 14I will let them graze in safety in the mountain meadows and the valleys and in all the green pastures of the land of Israel. 15I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will find them a place to rest. I, the Sovereign LORD, have spoken.
16"I will look for those that are lost, bring back those that wander off, bandage those that are hurt, and heal those that are sick; but those that are fat and strong I will destroy, because I am a shepherd who does what is right.

Next Page

 

This reading is from The Holy Bible, Today's English Version, Second Edition copyright © American Bible Society, 1992;
Old Testament copyright © American Bible Society, 1976, 1992; New Testament © American Bible Society, 1966, 1971, 1976, 1992.


Click here to go to BibleNetUSA's main page

Click here to go to the main page of dailybibleclub.com


Copyright 2013 BibleNetUSA.  All rights reserved.  Email gnt@dailybibleclub.com

These daily Bible readings from the Good News Translation (GNT), formerly the Today's English Version (TEV), are published by BibleNetUSA.  The web site and BibleCard® designs are by iCreative.  All BibleCard® images are copyrighted by  iCreative.  All rights reserved.

1234