My sheep wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over the entire face of the earth with no one looking or searching for them.

As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, my sheep have become prey and have become food for all the wild beasts. There was no shepherd, and my shepherds did not search for my flock, but fed themselves and did not feed my sheep,

I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord.

“‘For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I myself will search for my sheep and seek them out.

And you, my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are my people, ¹  and I am your God, declares the sovereign Lord.’”

This is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand my sheep from their hand. I will no longer let them be shepherds; ¹  the shepherds will not feed themselves anymore. I will rescue my sheep from their mouth, so that they will no longer be food for them.

“But now they mock me, those who are younger ¹  than I, whose fathers I disdained too much ²  to put with my sheep dogs. ³ 

Then I myself will regather those of my people ¹  who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. ²  They will greatly increase in number.

“‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.

Laban replied ¹  to Jacob, “These women ²  are my daughters, these children are my grandchildren, ³  and these flocks are my flocks. All that you see belongs to me. But how can I harm these daughters of mine today ⁴  or the children to whom they have given birth?

So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people ¹  to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. ²  I, the Lord, affirm it! ³ 

As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his scattered sheep, so I will seek out my flock. I will rescue them from all the places where they have been scattered on a cloudy, dark day. ¹