Study Desk

My sheep were scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with no one to search or seek for them.

As I live, says the Lord God , because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep;

Thus says the Lord God , I am against the shepherds; and I will demand my sheep at their hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them.

For thus says the Lord God : I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out.

As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord God : I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats:

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture? When you drink of clear water, must you foul the rest with your feet?

They shall no more be plunder for the nations, nor shall the animals of the land devour them; they shall live in safety, and no one shall make them afraid.

I will provide for them a splendid vegetation so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the insults of the nations.

therefore, as I live, says the Lord God , I will prepare you for blood, and blood shall pursue you; since you did not hate bloodshed, bloodshed shall pursue you.

But you, O mountains of Israel, shall shoot out your branches, and yield your fruit to my people Israel; for they shall soon come home.

See now, I am for you; I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown;

So I poured out my wrath upon them for the blood that they had shed upon the land, and for the idols with which they had defiled it.

But I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations to which they came.

Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God : It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came.

Then you shall remember your evil ways, and your dealings that were not good; and you shall loathe yourselves for your iniquities and your abominable deeds.

It is not for your sake that I will act, says the Lord God ; let that be known to you. Be ashamed and dismayed for your ways, O house of Israel.

Thus says the Lord God : I will also let the house of Israel ask me to do this for them: to increase their population like a flock.

Like the flock for sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem during her appointed festivals, so shall the ruined towns be filled with flocks of people. Then they shall know that I am the Lord .

Mortal, take a stick and write on it, "For Judah, and the Israelites associated with it"; then take another stick and write on it, "For Joseph (the stick of Ephraim) and all the house of Israel associated with it";

Be ready and keep ready, you and all the companies that are assembled around you, and hold yourselves in reserve for them.