“Therefore,

You shepherds!

Hear

The word of Yahweh!

Says Yahweh God!

‘As I live!

My sheep

Have become

A prey.

My sheep

Have become

Food

For all the wild animals.

Because there was

No shepherd.

Because my shepherds

Have not searched

For my sheep.

But the shepherds

Have fed themselves.

They have not fed

My sheep.’”

Yahweh, via Ezekiel, wanted those Israelite shepherds to listen. Yahweh’s sheep, the Israelites, had become a prey and food for all the wild animals of the foreign countries. There was no shepherd or leader. Thus, Yahweh’s sheep had been scattered, but no one searched for them. These shepherds or so-called leaders fed themselves, but they never fed Yahweh’s sheep.