Study Desk

If I announce that some wicked people are sure to die and you fail to tell them to change their ways, then they will die in their sins, and I will hold you responsible for their deaths.

When I tell righteous people that they will live, but then they sin, expecting their past righteousness to save them, then none of their righteous acts will be remembered. I will destroy them for their sins.

For instance, they might give back a debtor's security, return what they have stolen, and obey my life-giving laws, no longer doing what is evil. If they do this, then they will surely live and not die.

None of their past sins will be brought up again, for they have done what is just and right, and they will surely live.

For again I say, when righteous people turn away from their righteous behavior and turn to evil, they will die.

You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty.

So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal.

They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.

As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord , you abandoned my flock and left them to be attacked by every wild animal. And though you were my shepherds, you didn't search for my sheep when they were lost. You took care of yourselves and left the sheep to starve.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I now consider these shepherds my enemies, and I will hold them responsible for what has happened to my flock. I will take away their right to feed the flock, and I will stop them from feeding themselves. I will rescue my flock from their mouths; the sheep will no longer be their prey.

"For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will search and find my sheep.

I will be like a shepherd looking for his scattered flock. I will find my sheep and rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on that dark and cloudy day.

I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak. But I will destroy those who are fat and powerful. I will feed them, yes—feed them justice!

"And as for you, my flock, this is what the Sovereign Lord says to his people: I will judge between one animal of the flock and another, separating the sheep from the goats.

Isn't it enough for you to keep the best of the pastures for yourselves? Must you also trample down the rest? Isn't it enough for you to drink clear water for yourselves? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?

For you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands.

They will no longer be prey for other nations, and wild animals will no longer devour them. They will live in safety, and no one will frighten them.

"And I will make their land famous for its crops, so my people will never again suffer from famines or the insults of foreign nations.

"Your eternal hatred for the people of Israel led you to butcher them when they were helpless, when I had already punished them for all their sins.

As surely as I live, says the Sovereign Lord , since you show no distaste for blood, I will give you a bloodbath of your own. Your turn has come!