Ezekiel 34:17
in Ezekiel 34This is what the Lord GOD says to you, My flock: ‘I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the goats.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, the rams and the he-goats.
KJV
And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
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This verse in Ezekiel 34
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAnd as for you, O my flock - After having spoken to the shepherds, he now addresses the flock. I judge between cattle and cattle - Between false and true professors; between them that have only the form and them that have the power of godliness; between the backslider in heart and the upright man.
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 Fathers5 voices
What are he-goats doing here in God's flock? In the same pastures, at the same springs, he-goats, though destined for the left hand, are mixing with those of the right hand, and those who are going to be separated are first tolerated. And this is to exercise the sheep in a patience after the likeness of God's own patience.
I am judging. What a relief, what reassurance! [The Lord] is judging; the good can be reassured. No opponent can corrupt their judge, no counselor twist him round their little finger or witness play fast and loose with him. But just as the good can be reassured, so to the same extent the bad should be afraid. He is not the sort of judge things can be kept hidden from. Do you imagine, after all, that God as judge is going to examine witnesses, to learn from them who you may be? How can he possibly be mistaken about who you may be, seeing that he knew what you were going to be?
(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.
We who desire to be flocks of the shepherd must never try to escape from being fed even by the very things that seem to diverge from Scripture and are trampled on because of the discordance of what is said by those who neither want nor can use the nourishment that Scripture gives in all its fullness.
If you really think, brothers, what a very great blessing it is to be God's flock, you must be filled even in the midst of these tears and troubles of ours with very great joy.
4 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,
And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord God,....
Do not the rich oppress the poor merely with the help of their riches, and draw them before the judgment-seats? Poor servants and tenants are hardly used by their rich lords and masters.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Margin, "small cattle," or "flocks of lambs and kids," that is, I judge between one class of citizens and another, so as to award what is right to each. He then defines the class about to be punitively "judged," namely, "the rams and he-goats," or "great he-goats" (compare Isa 14:9, Margin;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The words behind it
13 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאַתֵּ֣נָה | veatenah | and you | H859 → | 1094 times |
| צֹאנִ֔י | tzoni | O flock my | H6629 → | 274 times |
| כֹּ֥ה | koh | thus | H3541 → | 577 times |
| אָמַ֖ר | ʾamar | he says | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֲדֹנָ֣י | ʾadonai | [the] Lord | H136 → | 440 times |
| יְהוִ֑ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3069 → | 306 times |
| הִנְנִ֤י | hini | here I | H2005 → | 316 times |
| שֹׁפֵט֙ | shofet | [am] about to judge | H8199 → | 202 times |
| בֵּֽין־ | bein- | between | H996 → | 407 times |
| שֶׂ֣ה | seh | a sheep | H7716 → | 47 times |
| לָשֶׂ֔ה | laseh | and a sheep | H7716 → | 47 times |
| לָאֵילִ֖ים | laeilim | and <the> rams | H352 → | 187 times |
| וְלָעַתּוּדִֽים׃ | velaatudim | and <the> male goats | H6260 → | 29 times |
וְאַתֵּ֣נָהand you
veatenahH859 →1094 times
צֹאנִ֔יO flock my
tzoniH6629 →274 times
כֹּ֥הthus
kohH3541 →577 times
אָמַ֖רhe says
ʾamarH559 →5305 times
אֲדֹנָ֣י[the] Lord
ʾadonaiH136 →440 times
יְהוִ֑הYahweh
yahwehH3069 →306 times
הִנְנִ֤יhere I
hiniH2005 →316 times
שֹׁפֵט֙[am] about to judge
shofetH8199 →202 times
בֵּֽין־between
bein-H996 →407 times
שֶׂ֣הa sheep
sehH7716 →47 times
לָשֶׂ֔הand a sheep
lasehH7716 →47 times
לָאֵילִ֖יםand <the> rams
laeilimH352 →187 times
וְלָעַתּוּדִֽים׃and <the> male goats
velaatudimH6260 →29 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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
Zechariah 10:3“My anger burns against the shepherds, and I will punish the leaders. For the LORD of Hosts attends to His flock, the house of Judah; He will make them like His royal steed in…
it leads to
- Ezekiel 34:7–10
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:
- Ezekiel 34:2
“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…
- Jeremiah 23:1–2
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 34:16–17
I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’
- 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!”
- Ezekiel 34:7–10
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies8
On this verse
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 47:6; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 47:7; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 47:3; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON EZEKIEL, PREFACE.