Ezekiel 34:18
in Ezekiel 34Is 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?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have fed upon the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? and to have drunk of the clear waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
KJV
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?
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This verse in Ezekiel 34
Commentary
10 notes on this verseHave eaten up the good pasture - Arrogate to yourselves all the promises of God, and will hardly permit the simple believer to claim or possess any token of God’s favor. Ye must foul the residue with your feet? - Ye abuse God’s mercies; you consume much upon yourselves, and ye spoil more, on which the poor would have been glad to feed.
This site's exposition
between the rams and the goats
on Ezekiel 34:17-22
The judgment turns inward, distinguishing cattle and cattle within Israel itself: those who trampled the good pasture and fouled the clear water for the rest. The individual accountability pressed here runs alongside the argument chapter 18 made, that guilt and its judgment fall on the one who commits it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
God's pastures are good, and God's springs are pure. We have them in the holy Scriptures.
(Verse 17 onwards) But you, my flock (or sheep), this says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between the sheep, and between rams and goats. Was it not enough for you to graze on good pastures? Moreover, you trampled the remnants of your pastures with your feet, and when you drank the purest water, you disturbed the rest with your feet. And my sheep, which were trampled by your feet, were fed, and those feet of yours that disturbed, they drank.
But these things he spoke against the shepherds: now he speaks to the sheep, that is, to the people: and to the flock of both kinds of livestock, that is, the sheep and the goats: and not only to the sheep and goats, but also to the rams and the bucks, who are the leaders in the flocks, to whom he says: Was it not enough for you to feed on the good pastures of the Scriptures? But in addition, you were trampling on the remnants of your pastures with your feet.
The Medieval Church1 voice
For indeed the shepherds drink most pure water, when with a right understanding they imbibe the streams of truth. But to foul the same water with their feet is to corrupt the studies of holy meditation by evil living. And verily the sheep drink the water fouled by their feet, when any of those subject to them follow not the words which they hear, but only imitate the bad examples which they see. Thirsting for the things said, but perverted by the works observed, they take in mud with their draughts, as from polluted fountains.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
But ye must tread down - You great ones, eat the fat, and sweet; and what you cannot eat, you waste and spoil. The deep waters - Which are sufficient for all.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Another promise that God would in the fulness of time send the Messiah, to be the great and good Shepherd of the sheep, who should redress all grievances and set every thing to rights with the flock,
Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture,....
And this seemed a small thing to them; they thought there was no harm in it, as if it were the privilege of their quality to be injurious to all their neighbours. Note, Many that live in pomp and at ease themselves care not what straits those about them are reduced to, so they may but have every thing to their mind.
The words behind it
16 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הַמְעַ֣ט | hamat | ¿ [too] little | H4592 → | 101 times |
| מִכֶּ֗ם | mikem | for you | ||
| הַמִּרְעֶ֤ה | hamireh | [is] the pasture | H4829 → | 13 times |
| הַטּוֹב֙ | hatov | <the> good | H2896 → | 538 times |
| תִּרְע֔וּ | tiru | [which] you are grazing | H7462 → | 177 times |
| וְיֶ֙תֶר֙ | veyeter | and [the] rest of | H3499 → | |
| מִרְעֵיכֶ֔ם | mireikhem | pasture your | H4829 → | 13 times |
| תִּרְמְס֖וּ | tirmesu | you are trampling | H7429 → | |
| בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֑ם | beragleikhem | with feet your | H7272 → | 247 times |
| וּמִשְׁקַע־ | umishka'- | and clearness of | H4950 → | |
| מַ֣יִם | mayim | waters | H4325 → | 581 times |
| תִּשְׁתּ֔וּ | tishtu | [which] you are drinking | H8354 → | 217 times |
| וְאֵת֙ | veet | and <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַנּ֣וֹתָרִ֔ים | hanotarim | those [which] are left | H3498 → | 106 times |
| בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֖ם | beragleikhem | with feet your | H7272 → | 247 times |
| תִּרְפֹּשֽׂוּן׃ | tirposun | you are fouling ! | H7515 → |
הַמְעַ֣ט¿ [too] little
hamatH4592 →101 times
מִכֶּ֗םfor you
mikem
הַמִּרְעֶ֤ה[is] the pasture
hamirehH4829 →13 times
הַטּוֹב֙<the> good
hatovH2896 →538 times
תִּרְע֔וּ[which] you are grazing
tiruH7462 →177 times
וְיֶ֙תֶר֙and [the] rest of
veyeterH3499 →
מִרְעֵיכֶ֔םpasture your
mireikhemH4829 →13 times
תִּרְמְס֖וּyou are trampling
tirmesuH7429 →
בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֑םwith feet your
beragleikhemH7272 →247 times
וּמִשְׁקַע־and clearness of
umishka'-H4950 →
מַ֣יִםwaters
mayimH4325 →581 times
תִּשְׁתּ֔וּ[which] you are drinking
tishtuH8354 →217 times
וְאֵת֙and <obj.>
veetH853 →10935 times
הַנּ֣וֹתָרִ֔יםthose [which] are left
hanotarimH3498 →106 times
בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֖םwith feet your
beragleikhemH7272 →247 times
תִּרְפֹּשֽׂוּן׃you are fouling !
tirposunH7515 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Matthew 23:13Woe 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.
it leads to
- 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 23:29
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
- Matthew 23:23
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You pay tithes of mint, dill, and cumin. But you have disregarded the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faithfulness. You should have practiced…
- Matthew 23:27
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside, but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and every kind of impurity.
- Zechariah 11:17
Woe to the worthless shepherd, who deserts the flock! May a sword strike his arm and his right eye! May his arm be completely withered and his right eye utterly blinded!”
- Luke 11:52
Through
Luke 11:52Woe 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.”
it leads to
- 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.
- Malachi 2:7
For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and people should seek instruction from his mouth, because he is the messenger of the LORD of Hosts.
- Matthew 23:13
Through
Isaiah 7:13Then 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?
it leads to
- Isaiah 43:24
You have not bought Me sweet cane with your silver, nor satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices. But you have burdened Me with your sins; you have wearied Me with your iniquities.
- Isaiah 43:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies8
On this verse
About Ezekiel
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 47:9; Gregory the Dialogist, Pastoral Rule, Part 1, Chapter 2; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.