Nov 28th

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and say to those shepherds, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh, “Woe, shepherds of Israel who have been shepherding themselves! Should not the shepherds shepherd the flock?

You eat the fat and clothe yourselves with the wool; you sacrifice the fat sheep without shepherding the flock.

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.” ’ ”

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

“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;

therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh:

‘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 bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries and bring them to their own land; and I will shepherd them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams, and in all the inhabited places of the land.

I will shepherd them in a good pasture, and their grazing ground will be on the mountain heights of Israel. There they will lie down on good grazing ground and be shepherded in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.

I will shepherd My flock, and I will make them lie down,” declares Lord Yahweh.

“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!’ ”

Therefore, thus says Lord Yahweh to them, “Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the sickly with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,

therefore, I will save My flock, and they will no longer be plunder; and I will judge between one sheep and another.

“Then I will establish over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will shepherd them; he will shepherd them himself and be their shepherd.

And I, Yahweh, will be their God, and My servant David will be prince among them; I, Yahweh, have spoken.

“I will cut a covenant of peace with them and cause harmful beasts to cease from the land so that they may live securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing.

Also the tree of the field will yield its fruit, and the earth will yield its produce, and they will be secure on their land. Then they will know that I am Yahweh, when I have broken the bars of their yoke and have delivered them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

They will no longer be plunder to the nations, and the beasts of the earth will not devour them; but they will live securely, and no one will make them tremble.

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.

Then they will know that I, Yahweh their God, am with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are My people,” declares Lord Yahweh.

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

Moreover, the word of Yahweh came to me saying,

“Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir and prophesy against it

and say to it, ‘Thus says Lord Yahweh,

Because you have had everlasting enmity and have delivered the sons of Israel to the power of the sword at the time of their disaster, at the time of the punishment of the end,

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.

I will make Mount Seir a waste and a desolation, and I will cut off from it the one who passes through and returns.

I will fill its mountains with its slain; on your hills and in your valleys and in all your ravines those slain by the sword will fall.

I will make you an everlasting desolation, and your cities will not be inhabited. Then you will know that I am Yahweh.

“Because you have said, ‘These two nations and these two lands will be mine, and we will possess them,’ although Yahweh was there,

therefore as I live,” declares Lord Yahweh, “I will deal with you according to your anger and according to your jealousy which you dealt with them because of your hatred against them; so I will make Myself known among them when I judge you.

Then you will know that I, Yahweh, have heard all your contempt which you have spoken against the mountains of Israel saying, ‘They are laid desolate; they are given to us for food.’

And you have magnified yourselves with your mouth against Me and have multiplied your words against Me; I have heard it.”

Thus says Lord Yahweh, “As all the earth delights, I will make you a desolation.

As you delighted over the inheritance of the house of Israel because it was desolate, so I will do to you. You will be a desolation, O Mount Seir, and all Edom, all of it. Then they will know that I am Yahweh.” ’

What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members?

You lust and do not have, so you murder. You are envious and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask.

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.

You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God? Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world sets himself as an enemy of God.

Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”?

But He gives a greater grace. Therefore it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Be subject therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Be miserable and mourn and cry. Let your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.

Do not slander one another, brothers. He who slanders a brother or judges his brother, slanders the law and judges the law; but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge of it.

There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you who judge your neighbor?

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”

Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”

But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Therefore, to one who knows to do the right thing and does not do it, to him it is sin.

Come now, you rich, cry, howling over your miseries which are coming upon you.

Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten.

Your gold and your silver have rusted, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. You have stored up such treasure in the last days!

Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields—that which has been withheld by you—cries out against you; and the outcries of those who did the harvesting have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.

You have lived luxuriously on the earth and lived in self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter.

You have condemned and murdered the righteous man; he does not resist you.