Study Desk

But as for you, if you on your part warn a wicked man to turn from his way and he does not turn from his way, he will die in his iniquity, but you have delivered your life.

"Now as for you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus you have spoken, saying, "Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we are rotting away in them; how then can we live?"'

Now as for you, son of man, say to the sons of your people, ‘The righteousness of a righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression, and as for the wickedness of the wicked, he will not stumble because of it in the day when he turns from his wickedness; whereas a righteous man will not be able to live by his righteousness on the day when he commits sin.'

"But as for you, son of man, the sons of your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, ‘Come now and hear what the word is which comes forth from Yahweh.'

They come to you as people come and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their greedy gain.

Behold, you are to them like a lustful song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not do them.

Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, and the diseased you have not healed, and the broken you have not bound up, and the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you searched for the lost; but with strength and with severity you have dominated them.

They were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and they became food for every beast of the field and were scattered.

My flock wandered through all the mountains and on every high hill; My flock was scattered over all the surface of the earth, and there was no one to seek or search for them."'"

"As I live," declares Lord Yahweh, "surely because My flock has become 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;

‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will seek My flock from their hand and make them cease from shepherding the flock. So the shepherds will not shepherd themselves anymore, but I will deliver My flock from their mouth so that they will not be food for them."'"

For thus says Lord Yahweh, "Behold, I Myself will seek My sheep and care for them.

As a shepherd cares for his herd in the day when he is among his sheep which are spread out, so I will care for My sheep and will deliver them from all the places to which they were scattered on a cloudy and gloomy day.

"I will search for the lost, bring back the scattered, bind up the broken, and strengthen the sick; but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with judgment.

"As for you, My flock, thus says Lord Yahweh, ‘Behold, I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the male goats.

Is it too 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 foul the rest with your feet?

As for My flock, they must be shepherded on what you tread down with your feet and drink what you foul with your feet!'"

I will establish for them a renowned planting place, and they will not again be victims of famine in the land, and they will not bear the dishonor of the nations anymore.

"As for you, My sheep, the sheep of My pasture, you are men, and I am your God," declares Lord Yahweh.

therefore as I live," declares Lord Yahweh, "I will prepare you for bloodshed, and bloodshed will pursue you; you surely have not hated bloodshed, so bloodshed will pursue you.