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So they were scattered because there was no shepherd; and they became food for all the beasts of the field when they were scattered.
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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."
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'Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord:
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"as I live," says the Lord God, "surely because My flock became a prey, and My flock became food for every beast of the field, because there was no shepherd, nor did My shepherds search for My flock, but the shepherds fed themselves and did not feed My flock"--
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therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord!
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Thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require My flock at their hand; I will cause them to cease feeding the sheep, and the shepherds shall feed themselves no more; for I will deliver My flock from their mouths, that they may no longer be food for them."
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'For thus says the Lord God: "Indeed I Myself will search for My sheep and seek them out.
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As a shepherd seeks out his flock on the day he is among his scattered sheep, so will I seek out My sheep and deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a cloudy and dark day.
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And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land; I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, in the valleys and in all the inhabited places of the country.
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I will feed them in good pasture, and their fold shall be on the high mountains of Israel. There they shall lie down in a good fold and feed in rich pasture on the mountains of Israel.
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I will feed My flock, and I will make them lie down," says the Lord God.
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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."
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'And as for you, O My flock, thus says the Lord God: "Behold, I shall judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and goats.
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Is it too little for you to have eaten up the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture--and to have drunk of the clear waters, that you must foul the residue with your feet?
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And as for My flock, they eat what you have trampled with your feet, and they drink what you have fouled with your feet."
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'Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: "Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat and the lean sheep.
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Because you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad,
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therefore I will save My flock, and they shall no longer be a prey; and I will judge between sheep and sheep.
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I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them--My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.
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And I, the Lord, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them; I, the Lord, have spoken.
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"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.