The Hebrew text of Book of Ezekiel 34:23ff with Babylonia vocalization in a geniza fragment from Bodley Library, University of Oxford (shelfmark Ms. heb. d. 64).
"Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy and say to them,
Thus says the Lord God to the shepherds:
"Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves!
Should not the shepherds feed the flocks?" (NKJV)[7]
"Son of man" (Hebrew: בן־אדם ḇen-’ā-ḏām): this phrase is used 93 times to address Ezekiel.[8]
"Shepherd" (Hebrew: רועי or רעי rō-w-‘ê): the noun is derived from the Hebrew verb רָעָה ra'ah (Assyrian rê°û, verb: "pasture", noun: "ruler") meaning to "pasture, tend, graze", to "feed (the flock)"; figuratively "to guard, care for, rule."[9][10] A "common allegory"[11] referring to the rulers of Israel, either political or spiritual.[12]
Verse 3
You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you slaughter the fatlings, but you do not feed the flock.[13]
"You eat the milk" in the Septuagint - the consonants are the same.[11]
Verse 5
So they were scattered because there was no shepherd;
and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered. (NKJV)[14]
My sheep wandered through all the mountains, and on every high hill; yes, My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and no one was seeking or searching for them.”[15]
The final words, "for them", are added in most English translations, as they are not in the original text. Robert Young's Literal Translation ends "and there is none inquiring, and none seeking".[16] The sheep are scattered, "first on to 'every high hill' as idolaters, and then 'over the face of the earth' in exile".[17]
Verse 16
“I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”[18]
This verse "clearly anticipates a return from exile to the land of Israel".[17]
Verse 23
I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them — My servant David.
He shall feed them and be their shepherd. (NKJV)[19]
Artwork describing Ezekiel 34:25 by an unknown Italian artist; illustration of The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, edited by Charles F. Horne and Julius A. Bewer, published by Francis R. Niglutsch, New York, in 1908. vol. 8.
“I will make a covenant of peace with them, and cause wild beasts to cease from the land; and they will dwell safely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.” (NKJV)[20]
^The New Oxford Annotated Bible with the Apocrypha, Augmented Third Edition, New Revised Standard Version, Indexed. Michael D. Coogan, Marc Brettler, Carol A. Newsom, Editors. Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2007. pp. 1229-1230 Hebrew Bible. ISBN978-0195288810
Brown, Francis; Briggs, Charles A.; Driver, S. R. (1994). The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (reprint ed.). Hendrickson Publishers. ISBN978-1565632066.
Gesenius, H. W. F. (1979). Gesenius' Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures: Numerically Coded to Strong's Exhaustive Concordance, with an English Index. Translated by Tregelles, Samuel Prideaux (7th ed.). Baker Book House.
