Ezekiel 34:9
in Ezekiel 34therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of Jehovah:
KJV
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord;
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This verse in Ezekiel 34
Commentary
8 notes on this verseI myself will go to the shepherds and will seek out my flock from the hand of those who find it convenient to have a millstone placed around their neck.
This site's exposition
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word
on Ezekiel 34:7-10
The double summons, “hear the word of the LORD”, frames the sentence: God declares Himself against the shepherds and will “demand from them My flock”. They will be removed from tending the flock entirely, and the flock is delivered “from their mouths” and will no longer be food for them.
This site's exposition
therefore, you shepherds, hear the word
The oath of verse 8 breaks off before its sentence. So the summons to the shepherds is repeated to pick up the thread, and the LORD's verdict against them follows in verse 10. The shepherds who fed themselves must hear it.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
(Chapter 34.) And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds (or to the shepherds) of Israel, prophesy, and say to the shepherds: Thus says the Lord God: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been feeding themselves. (Or: O shepherds of Israel, do the shepherds not feed themselves?) Do not the flocks feed on the shepherds? (Or do the sheep not feed the shepherds?)
These words predict the end both of the kingdom of the Jews and the priesthood. I will free my flocks, he says, from those who look after them badly, who have steered them with no kind of providence but have only continued to devour them. …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is repeated, that it might be observed, and for the confirmation of it; it might be depended upon that what follows would be accomplished, unless they changed their conduct and behaviour; and, to leave them inexcusable, they are again called upon to hear what the Lord should say unto them. The Targum is, "therefore, O ye wicked governors, return to the law, and I will have mercy on you; hearken to the doctrine of the law, and receive the word of the Lord.''
Those that will not hear the word of the Lord giving them their direction shall be made to hear the word of the Lord reading them their doom. How much displeased God is at the shepherds. Their crimes are repeated,
A gracious promise that God would take care of his flock, though they did not, and that it should not always suffer as it had done by their mal-administrations,
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
and the shepherds will no longer shepherd themselves [Heb. אוֹתָם,] themselves.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לָכֵן֙ | lakhen | <to> therefore | H3651 → | 771 times |
| הָֽרֹעִ֔ים | haroim | O shepherds | H7462 → | 177 times |
| שִׁמְע֖וּ | shimu | hear | H8085 → | 1159 times |
| דְּבַר־ | devar- | [the] word of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| יְהוָֽה׃ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
לָכֵן֙<to> therefore
lakhenH3651 →771 times
הָֽרֹעִ֔יםO shepherds
haroimH7462 →177 times
שִׁמְע֖וּhear
shimuH8085 →1159 times
דְּבַר־[the] word of
devar-H1697 →1440 times
יְהוָֽה׃Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies8
On this verse
About Ezekiel
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Ezekiel; Jerome, COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 11:34.1-31; Jerome, Commentary on Ezekiel; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible and Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON EZEKIEL 13:34.