Ezekiel 34:18

Translations

Modern

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?

Traditional

Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

Literal

Is it a little thing for you to feed on the good pasture, that the remainder of your pasture-land you would trample with your feet? And the clear waters you drink, that that the remainder you would muddy with your feet?

Latin

Nonne satis vobis erat pascua bona depasci? insuper et reliquias pascuarum vestrarum conculcastis pedibus vestris: et cum purissimam aquam biberetis, reliquam pedibus vestris turbabatis:

Original

Hebrew

English

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?

Notes

Ezekiel 34:17–19

The goats were the powerful, unrighteous members of the community.

Ezekiel 34:1–24

This chapter includes both judgment and salvation. God would judge the shepherds, that is, the former kings of Judah. They failed to care for their flock, meaning the people of Judah.

The Lord would also judge the fattened sheep. These were the strong and selfish people who harmed others. Yet God would act as a good shepherd. He would care for the rest of the flock and provide for them.

The image of the shepherd shows both the strength and kindness of God's actions with His people. In the ancient Near East, a shepherd was a common symbol for a king. People saw the earthly king as a representative of the divine shepherd who appointed him.

Shepherds had to protect their flocks from wild animals like lions and bears. They also needed to know their sheep by name and gently lead them to good pasture and calm waters. They faced cold, heat, wind, rain, and snow while caring for their flocks.

Good kings who led their people wisely and strongly were like shepherds. The New Testament uses the same image to describe pastors and elders, who should oversee their flock without being domineering (1 Peter 5:2–4). Jesus perfectly combines strength and kindness as the “great Shepherd of the sheep” (Hebrews 13:20).

Ezekiel 34:1–37:28

These chapters describe the blessings that would come when the Lord returned to his people.

He would be their shepherd. He would give them good and faithful leadership (Ezekiel 34).

He would make the land fruitful again. In this way, he would show that his name is honored and holy (Ezekiel 35–36).

He would bring his people back to life and make them one nation again (Ezekiel 37).

Theme notes and profiles

God’s Judgment of His People The Shepherd

Events

Prophecies of Ezekielc. 593 BC

Related verses

Luke 11:52
Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
Matthew 23:13
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
2 Samuel 7:19
And as if this was a small thing in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your custom with man, O Lord GOD?
Ezekiel 34:2–3
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?
Numbers 16:13
Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?
Isaiah 7:13
Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well?
Numbers 16:9
Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
Ezekiel 16:20
You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
Ezekiel 32:2
“Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’
Ezekiel 16:47
And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.
Matthew 15:6–9
…he need not honor his father or mother with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
Micah 2:2
They covet fields and seize them; they take away houses. They deprive a man of his home, a fellow man of his inheritance.

Ezekiel 34:18

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