Ezekiel 34

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: Son of man, prophesy concerning 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 were feeding themselves (or O shepherds of Israel, do shepherds feed themselves); are not the flocks fed by the shepherds (or do not the shepherds feed the sheep)? You ate the milk and covered yourselves with the wool, and what was fat you slaughtered, but my flock you did not feed; what was weak you did not make firm (or strengthen), and what was sick you did not heal, what was broken you did not bind up, and what was cast off (or was straying) you did not bring back, what had perished you did not seek, but you ruled over them with harshness and with power (or and what was strong, you afflicted with toil). And my sheep were scattered, because there was no shepherd (or shepherds); and they were made to be devoured by all the beasts of the field, and they were scattered. My flocks (or sheep) had wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill, and over the whole face of the earth my flocks (or sheep) were scattered; and there was none who would seek, there was none, I say, who would seek (or who would bring back). Therefore, O shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, because my flocks (or sheep) have become a prey, and my sheep have been made to be devoured by all the beasts of the field, because there was no shepherd (or shepherds); for the shepherds did not seek my flock, but the shepherds were feeding themselves, and were not feeding my flocks. Therefore, shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself, against the shepherds, will require my flock at their hand, and I will make them cease, so that they no longer feed my flock, nor shall the shepherds feed themselves any more (or the sheep); and I will deliver my flock (or sheep) from their mouth, and it shall no longer be food for them. For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will seek out my sheep, and I will visit them. As a shepherd visits his flock on the day when he is in the midst of his scattered sheep (or when there is gloom and cloud in the midst of his separated sheep), so will I visit my sheep, and I will deliver them from all the places into which they had been scattered in the day of cloud and gloom. And I will lead them (or them) out from the peoples (or from the nations), and I will gather them (or them) from the lands (or regions), and I will bring them (or them) into their own land, and I will feed them (or them) on the mountains, Israel, by the streams and in all the dwelling places of the land. In the richest pastures I will feed them (or them), and on the high mountains of Israel shall be their pastures (or their folds); there they shall rest in green grass, and in fat pastures they shall feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my sheep, and I will make them lie down (or rest), says the Lord God. What had perished I will seek, and what had been cast off (or had strayed) I will bring back, and what had been broken I will bind up, and what was weak I will make firm (or strengthen), and what is fat and strong I will guard, and I will feed them in judgment (or with judgment). But you, my flocks (or my sheep), thus says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, of rams and of he-goats. Was it not enough for you to graze down the good pasture? Moreover you will also trample the remnants of your pastures with your feet, and when you drank the purest water, you fouled the rest with your feet; and my sheep fed on what had been trampled by your feet, and drank what your feet had fouled. Therefore thus says the Lord God to them: Behold, I myself judge between fat cattle and lean (or between strong cattle and weak): because you thrust with your sides and shoulders and tossed all the weak cattle with your horns, until they were scattered abroad, I will save my flock and it shall no longer be a prey, and I will judge between cattle and cattle (or between ram and ram). And I will raise up over them (or them) one shepherd to feed them (or them), my servant David, he shall feed them (or them), and he shall be to them for a shepherd. But I the Lord will be to them for God, and my servant David prince in the midst of them: I the Lord have spoken. And I will make with them a covenant (or testament) of peace, and I will make the most evil beasts cease from the land, and those who dwelt in the desert shall sleep secure in the woods; and I will make them, round about my hill, a blessing, and I will bring down (or give) the rain in its season: there shall be rains of blessing. And the tree of the field shall give (or the trees of the plains shall give) its fruit, and the earth shall give its shoot (or strength), and they shall be (or dwell) in their own land without fear (or in hope of peace), and they shall know that I am the Lord, when I have broken the chains (or the collar) of their yoke, and rescued them from the hand of those who ruled over them (or who made them serve). And they shall no longer be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the earth devour them, but they shall dwell confidently (or in hope) without any terror. And I will raise up for them a renowned shoot (or a planting of peace), and they shall no longer be diminished (or perishing) by famine in the land, nor shall they bear any longer the reproaches of the nations; and they shall know that I am the Lord their God with them, and they my people, the house of Israel, says the Lord God. But you, my flocks, the flocks of my pasture (or sheep), are men, and I the Lord your God, says the Lord God. I have often pointed out that I mix the two editions so as to avoid making the books too large, at least in those places that do not differ much from each other in translation. After Jerusalem was taken, after the one who had escaped brought the news to Babylon, he spoke concerning those who dwelt in the ruins of Jerusalem, and then to those who, though placed in captivity, nonetheless persevered in wickedness, unwilling to hear the prophet's words; now he directs his discourse to the shepherds, that is, to the princes, by whose fault the sheep, that is, the peoples, were scattered. And this must be noted, that from the twelfth year, the tenth month, the fifth of the month of the exile — or of the captivity of Jeconiah and of those who had been taken captive with him —, up to the twenty-fifth year, when the temple is built upon the mountain of the built city and the incredible mysteries of the Church are laid open, no year and no time is set in between, but it is simply said: 'The word of the Lord came to me, saying: Speak to these and to those', so that we should understand that all the things read over thirteen years, though spoken at different times, nevertheless do not have fixed intervals of time between them. But the discourse is directed to the shepherds of Israel — whom we ought to take either as the kings and princes, the scribes and Pharisees and the teachers of the Jewish people, or certainly, in the people of the Gospel, as the bishops, presbyters and deacons, or, according to the mystical senses, as the angels of the individual churches, to whom John writes in his Revelation, and whose angels daily see the face of God —, and first it is said: Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who, when they ought to feed the Lord's flock and provide for its welfare, hasten after their own luxury — whence great care must be taken, and those precepts observed: Do not seek to become a judge, lest perhaps you be unable to take away iniquities, and again: The greater you are, the more humble yourself, and you will find grace in the sight of the Lord, and once more: Have they made you leader? Do not be lifted up: be among them as one of them; whence the Apostle too says that he was among the disciples as a little one and a suckling —.

But when the great pastor, the chief of pastors, comes, he will call and visit his sheep and will take knowledge of his flock. And he will bring forward those pastors, and will extract an account from them and will condemn them for their deeds. And those who fed the sheep well, them the chief of pastors will cause to rejoice and to inherit life and rest.

You see, we whom the Lord has deigned, thanks to no merits of ours, to set in this high station (about which a very strict account indeed has to be rendered) have two things about us that must be clearly distinguished: one, that we are Christians, the other, that we are placed in charge. Being Christians is for our sake; being in charge is for yours. It is to our advantage that we are Christians, only to yours that we are in charge.

Quite clearly he states that they have caused the sheep to be lost and to be devoured by the beasts of the field; nor, if they are abandoned, could they avoid being lost in death and devoured. But he does not say that they should be restored after they have been lost in death and devoured.

Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has committed the disposition to him. Distribute to all those in want with righteousness, and yourselves use the things which belong to the Lord, but do not abuse them; eating of them, but not eating them all up by yourselves: communicate with those that are in want, and thereby show yourselves unblameable before God. For if you shall consume them by yourselves, you will be reproached by God, who says to such unsatiable people, who alone devour all, "You eat up the milk, and clothe yourselves with the wool;" [Ezekiel 34:3] and in another passage, "Must you alone live upon the earth"? [Isaiah 5:8] Upon which account you are commanded in the law, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." [Leviticus 19:18] Now we say these things, not as if you might not partake of the fruits of your labours; for it is written, "You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox which treads out the grain;" [Deuteronomy 25:4; 1 Corinthians 9:9] but that you should do it with moderation and righteousness. As, therefore, the ox that labours in the threshing-floor without a muzzle eats indeed, but does not eat all up; so do you who labour in the threshing-floor, that is, in the Church of God, eat of the Church: which was also the case of the Levites, who served in the tabernacle of the testimony, which was in all things a type of the Church.

In the same way, everyone who leads a bad life for all those to see whom he has been put in charge of, as far as he is concerned is killing even the strong ones. Any who imitate him die; whoever does not imitate him lives.

As for what follows: You ate the milk and covered yourselves with the wool, it is by a μεταφορὰν [metaphor] of shepherds that he speaks to the princes — of whom it is also written in another place: Who devour my people like a meal of bread —; in the milk understand all wealth, in the wool the manifold variety of garments. And what is said: And what was fat you slaughtered, speaks of the rich of the people, whom the wicked princes in the churches are said to slaughter, in that they praise them and dare not rebuke their vices — of whom the prophet also says: My people, those who call you blessed lead you astray, and trip up the path of your feet; of whom James too speaks, saying that when they have come in to them, clothed in costly garments and with a gold ring, they are honored by them, and to the holy poor it is said: But you, sit on the footstool, or on the ground, or stand there — what is weak they do not strengthen or make firm — whence Paul says: Receive the weak, and: Take up the one weak in faith, and: Many weak among you and sick, to whom is sent the divine word of which it is written in the Psalms: He sent his word and healed them, and rescued them from their corruptions —; 'and what is broken', he says, 'they do not bind up', by no means taking account of the mortal wounds among the peoples, such as the adulterer, the murderer, the sacrilegious man; 'and what is cast off, or what they see straying, they do not bring back', allowing them to be deceived by heretics; 'and what has perished they do not seek', desiring not so much to save the lost as to devour those who are in the churches, but ruling over them with harshness and with power — which properly pertains to the haughtiness of bishops, namely of those who disgrace the dignity of their name by their works and take up pride in place of humility, so that they think they have attained an honor, not a burden, and whomever they see in the church taking the lead and possessing the word of God, they strive to oppress; whence according to the Seventy it is written: And what was strong you afflicted with toil —.

Hasten then to increase the flock of your master! Do not turn aside to relaxations or pleasures of the body or vilely squander the wool and the fat of Christ's sheep by hoarding up the goods of the monastery for your own benefit rather than of the brothers, so that you may enjoy yourself. Do nothing whatever, do not say anything for the sake of human glory, that does not pertain to the good of your monastery.

As regards the feeble it is to be feared that some trial may happen to him and break him. But the sick person is already ill with some kind of greed and prevented by some kind of greed from entering on the way of God, from submitting to the yoke of Christ. Think of people who want to lead a good life, who are already determined to lead a good life and are less capable of enduring evil, while they are quite ready to do good. But it is part of a Christian's strength not only to do what is good but also to put up with what is bad.

The shepherds who feed themselves and not the sheep are being told what they are diligent about and what they are negligent about.

If I do not worry about the one that strays and gets lost, even the one that is strong will think it is rather fun to stray and get lost. I do indeed desire outward gains, but I am more afraid of inner losses.

It is the abbot's responsibility to have great concern and to act with all speed, discernment and diligence in order not to lose any of the sheep entrusted to him. He should realize that he has undertaken care of the sick, not tyranny over the healthy.

Since we have been appointed by the Lord to direct the ship of his church, let us with his help and the direction of the two Testaments so govern the ship of his church that we may not through some negligence turn aside either to the right or to the left but may without effort keep a straight course of life in the midst of the great dangers of this world. Just as any ship cannot gather earthly profits without many labors, so the ship of the church cannot obtain the gains and joy of the eternal homeland without many tribulations. For just as pilots of ships, if they fail to be alert because of an excessive desire for sleep or false sense of security and do not show the sailors what they should do, immediately suffer shipwreck, so unless the church's pilots with all vigilance teach, terrify, sometimes even censure and occasionally punish lightly, at times even threatening the day of judgment with severity and thus showing how to keep the straight path of eternal life, it is to be feared that they will receive judgment where they might have had a remedy. For this reason, with the inspiration and assistance of the Lord, let us endeavor as far as it lies in our power to inform by word and example the people entrusted to our care.

And since it is incumbent on us who seem to be in charge and in the place of shepherds to guard the flock, if we should be found negligent, what will be said to us was said to our predecessors who were such negligent leaders.

If we scorn the repentance of those who have in some degree the assurance of a bearable conscience, immediately they are drawn by the devil's invitation into heresy or schism with their wife and children, whom they had kept unharmed. And it will be charged against us on judgment day that we have not cared for the wounded sheep and have lost many innocent ones because of one wounded.

For one who had been cast away is brought back, when any one who has fallen into sin is recalled to a state of righteousness by the vigour of pastoral solicitude. For ligature binds a fracture when discipline subdues a sin, lest the wound should bleed mortally for want of being compressed by the severity of constraint. But often a fracture is made worse, when it is bound together unwarily, so that the cut is more severely felt from being immoderately constrained by ligaments. Hence it is needful that when a wound of sin in subordinates is repressed by correction, even constraint should moderate itself with great carefulness, to the end that it may so exercise the rights of discipline against delinquents as to retain the bowels of loving-kindness.

Do you see a shepherd's vigilance? Do you see his heightened interest? What excuse could they have to whom rational flocks are entrusted but who are guilty of great negligence and day after day, in the prophet's words, slaughter some of them and look on without intending to take any care of others made the prey of wild beasts or the spoils of other people—even when the labor involved is slight and attention easy? It is a soul, after all, that is to be instructed; but that involves much labor for body and soul.

Having therefore mentioned the marks of a shepherd, Christ hath put two kinds of spoilers; one, the thief who kills and steals; the other, one who doth not these things, but who when they are done doth not give heed nor hinder them. By the first, pointing to Theudas and those like him; by the second, exposing the teachers of the Jews, who neither cared for nor thought about the sheep entrusted to them. On which account Ezekiel of old rebuked them, and said, "Woe, ye shepherds of Israel! Do the shepherds feed themselves? Do not the shepherds feed the sheep?" But they did the contrary, which is the worst kind of wickedness, and the cause of all the rest. Wherefore It saith, "They have not turned back the strayed, nor sought the lost, nor bound up the broken, nor healed the sick, because they fed themselves and not the sheep."... From both Christ distinguisheth Himself; from those who came to spoil, by saying, "I am come that they might have life, and that they might have more abundantly"; and from those who cared not for the sheep being carried away by wolves, by never deserting them, but even laying down His life for them, that the sheep might not perish.

And the people of God was scattered, either by vices or by heretical error, because there was no good shepherd who would lay down his life for the sheep, but all were hirelings, who consider only the profits from the flocks and flee when they see the wolf; through whose negligence the Lord's flock is devoured by the beasts of the field — of which it is written: You set darkness, and night came: in it all the beasts of the field will pass through, the lions' whelps roaring, to seize and to seek their food from God —.

Let us struggle, my beloved, during these six days of the Passover, for they are given to us each year for the redemption of our souls, that we may spend them in the works of God.… He sent to us the great Shepherd of the sheep that were scattered, to gather us back into his holy fold.

Pursuing all earthly objects, things that glitter obviously on the face of the earth, they love them, they set their hearts on them. They do not want to die, that their life may be hidden with Christ.… Not all heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth, but still heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth. Some here, others there, but there is no lack of them anywhere.

And they are scattered, and they wander on all the mountains, who are lifted up against the knowledge of God, and on every high hill, who through heretical pride despise the simplicity of the Church, and they are scattered over the whole face of the earth, seeking earthly things, not heavenly: And there was none who would seek, nor who would bring back, because, occupied with their pleasures, they do not care about the losses of the Lord's flock.

Hence the word of the Lord comes to the wicked shepherds, 'because you have done this and that', the things which I expounded above and which he enumerates a second time. 'Behold, I myself will come to the shepherds and will require my flock at their hand, for whom it is better that a donkey's millstone be tied to their neck than that they scandalize the least of my people; and this will be their punishment, even the greatest: That they no longer feed my flock, lest, under the pretext of the sheep, they feed themselves and amass wealth; and I will deliver my people from their mouth'.

But which shepherds are dead? Those who seek their own advantage, not that of Jesus Christ. So will there be shepherds, and will they be found, who do not seek their own advantage but that of Jesus Christ? There certainly will be, and they will certainly be found; they are not lacking, and they won't be lacking. So let us see what the Lord has to say, who says he lives; whether he says he is going to take the sheep away from the bad shepherds, who feed themselves, not the sheep, and give them to good shepherds, who feed the sheep, not themselves.

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. Therefore through our Lord and Savior they are granted salvation.

Listen and learn, you sheep of God; from the bad shepherds God will require his sheep, and from their hands he will require their death.… So let us see, because that is what I had proposed to do, whether he takes the sheep away from the bad shepherds and gives them to good shepherds.

'I will require', he says, 'from the hand', and 'I will deliver from the mouth', by which they are devoured with greedy jaws; and when he has sought out the sheep, he visits them as sick and lean and scattered through the negligence of the shepherds; and he will deliver them from all places in the day of cloud and gloom — of which Joel too speaks: The day of the Lord is at hand, and it is near; a day of darkness and gloom, a day of cloud and mist —.

Rain and fog, the errors of this world; a great darkness arising from human lusts, a thick fog covering the earth. And it is difficult for the sheep not to go astray in this fog. But the shepherd does not desert them. He seeks them, his piercing gaze penetrates the fog, the thick darkness of the clouds does not prevent him.

When it is difficult for them to be found, now I will find them. The fog is dense, the storm cloud thick; nothing escapes his eyes.

He is shepherd to shepherds and a guide to guides: that we may feed his flock with knowledge, not with the instruments of a foolish shepherd.

He established the mountains of Israel, the authors of the divine Scriptures. Feed there, in order to feed without a qualm. Whatever you hear from that source, let that taste good to you; anything from outside, spit it out. In order not to go astray in the fog, listen to the voice of the Shepherd. Gather yourselves to the mountains of holy Scripture. There you will find your heart's desire, there is nothing poisonous there, nothing unsuitable; they are the richest pastures.

There, life is wisdom, through which all these things come into being, both those that have been and those that will be. Yet, it is not made but is as it was, and thus it will be forever. Or rather, to have been in the past or to be in the future does not pertain to it, but simply to be, for it is eternal. To be in the past or to be in the future is not to be eternal.

Then they are led out from the lands, so as to be brought into their own land, which is the land of the living, and so that he himself may feed them on the mountains of Israel — of which David speaks: I lifted up my eyes to the mountains, whence help will come to me —, and not only on the mountains, but by the streams and in all the dwelling places of the land, in the richest pastures and on the high mountain — of which Isaiah and Micah prophesy more fully —, or on the high mountains, Israel; there they will rest in green grass — and they will say: The Lord feeds me, and nothing will be lacking to me: in a place of pasture, there he has set me; beside the water of refreshment he has brought me up —, and they will feed in the fattest pastures upon the mountains of Israel.

This is feeding Christ, this is feeding for Christ, this is feeding in Christ, not feeding oneself apart from Christ. There is not really a dearth of shepherds.

Lift up your eyes to the mountains, by all means, from where help shall come to you—but pay attention to him saying, I myself will be the shepherd.

And it is an infinite promise and a hope of blessedness, when the Lord himself promises, saying: 'I will feed my sheep, and I will by no means entrust them to wicked shepherds, and I will make them lie down, says the Lord God, so that they may rest in the bosom of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob'.

The Lord did not say, "I will provide other good shepherds to do these things," but "I myself," he said, "will do them. I will commit my sheep to nobody else." You are all right, brothers; you are all right, you sheep. It is we bishops, it seems, who have got to worry, there being apparently not a single good shepherd.

If you are a shepherd, take care that none of your pastoral duties is neglected. And what are these duties? To bring back that which is lost, to bind up that which was broken, to heal that which is diseased.

In every good deed we are anticipated by the Lord's grace. He deigns to inspire us to make us wish to entreat him.

But surely if we neglect our duties, does Almighty God abandon His sheep? By no means; for He Himself, as He promised through the prophet, feeds them by Himself, and He instructs all whom He has predestined to life through the goads of afflictions and the spirit of compunction.

We must all of us strive zealously to make known to the church both the dreadfulness of the coming judgment and the kingdom of heaven's delight. Those who are not in a position to address a large assembly should instruct individuals, offering instruction in personal talks; they should try to serve those around them through simple encouragement.… You who are pastors, consider that you are pasturing God's flock. We often see a block of salt put out for animals to lick for their well-being. Priests among their people should be like blocks of salt. They should counsel everyone in their flocks in such a way that all those with whom they come in contact may be seasoned with eternal life as if they had been sprinkled with salt. We who preach are not the salt of the earth unless we season the hearts of those who listen to us. We are really preaching to others if we ourselves do what we say, if we are pierced with God's love, if, since we cannot avoid sin, our tears wash away the stains on our life that come with each new day. We truly feel remorse when we take to heart the lives of our forebears in the faith so that we are diminished in our own eyes. Then do we truly feel remorse, when we attentively examine God's teachings and adopt for our own use what those we revere themselves used for theirs. And while we are moved to remorse on our own account, let us also take responsibility for the lives of those entrusted to our care. Our own bitter compunction should not divert us from concern for our neighbor. What good to love and strive to do good for our neighbor and abandon ourselves? We must realize that our passion for justice in the face of another's evil must never cause us to lose the virtue of gentleness. Priests must not be quick-tempered or rash; they must instead be temperate and thoughtful. We must support those we challenge and challenge those we support. If we neglect this, our work will lack either courage or gentleness. What shall we call the human soul but the food of the Lord? It is created to become nothing less than Christ's body and to bring about growth in the eternal church. We priests are to season this food. Cease to pray, cease to teach, and the salt loses its taste.

Then what had perished among the peoples of the nations will be sought, and what had strayed through the persuasion of heretics will be brought back, and what had been broken will be bound up, and what is crushed and weak will be made firm — that what is written may be fulfilled: Who heals their infirmities, and binds up their bruises. A heart, indeed, crushed and humbled, God does not spurn; whence the holy man too says: Heal me, for my bones are troubled, and in Psalm 37 (38), repenting: There is no peace, he says, for my bones before the face of my sins —. And what will be fat, he says, and strong I will guard, lest it be devoured by beasts; and he will feed his sheep in judgment, knowing what pastures are owed to which sheep — for Diverse indeed are the dwellings with the Father. And the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son —. These things, then, he spoke against the shepherds.

The words against the false shepherds have been hidden, as well as the prediction of God's attentiveness to come. He turns his words to the flocks and teaches the useless shepherds how not to fall back in any way in defending them.

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.

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?

Now he speaks to the sheep, that is, to the people, and to the flock of both kinds of cattle, that is, of sheep and of goats, and not only to the sheep and goats, but to the rams and he-goats, who are the princes in the flocks; to whom he says: 'Was it not enough for you that you fed on the good pastures of the Scriptures? But on top of that you will trample the remnants of your pastures with your feet, and when you drank the purest water of God's utterances, you fouled the rest of the waters with your feet, so that my people ate the pastures trampled by you and drank the fouled waters, and, through your fault, received corrupted and violated what was good in itself'. This indeed all heretics do, picking at the utterances of the Scriptures and, as far as in them lies, staining them; but churchmen who do not guard the truth of doctrines, but fabricate them from their own heart and have their own presumption for their teacher, are held fast in a like error; who, when they have persuaded the people that what they fabricate is true, and have stirred up applause and shouts in the manner of the theater, become forgetful of their own lack of skill, and, with brow drawn up and with words weighed and balanced, assume for themselves the authority of teachers.

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.

God's pastures are good, and God's springs are pure. We have them in the holy Scriptures.

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.

He makes no further mention of the he-goats. He mentioned them once, so that we would know they exist. He knows them well. After that he speaks as if all are sheep.

Let us see, then, what the judgment between cattle and cattle is, and with what judgment the good and true shepherd judges them, he who received all judgment from the Father: Behold, he says, I myself judge between fat cattle and lean (or between strong and weak): for the strong thrust with their sides and shoulders and dash against the weak cattle and toss them with their horns, not knowing that in the law the goring bull must be punished; and they thrust with their sides and tossed with their horns until they scattered the sheep and drove them out: for through the pride of the greater and the iniquity of those set over them, they are frequently driven from the church, so that those whom the Lord himself saved are scattered away from him; but the Lord will no longer abandon them to be a prey, and he will judge between cattle and cattle: not between the names of dignities with which those set over others swell, but between man and man, according as each is a servant of the Lord.

If we lament the many sheep that are straying outside, woe to those whose shoulders and sides and horns have brought it about. It is only strong sheep who would do this. Who are the strong? Those who rely on their own righteousness. None but those who called themselves just divided the sheep and drove them outside. Shoulders bold at shoving, because they do not bear God's burden; evil sides, conspiracies of friends, companions in obstinacy; horns lifted up, high and mighty pride. Shove with sides and shoulders, flail with your horns, drive outside what you have not bought. Certainly this is your whole case, that you are just and others are unjust, and it was unfitting that the just should remain with the unjust, unfitting, that is to say, that the corn should remain among the weeds, unfitting that the sheep should feed among the goats until the shepherd should come who would make no mistake in separating them.

Just as we must abominate their injustice and cruelty, so we must praise the mercy of our Shepherd, who is truly our God; he will save his sheep. Perhaps, my brothers, he is doing this when we say this, doing it through the least of his servants, doing it perhaps through unworthy servants. Let him save his sheep; let them hear the voice of their Shepherd and follow him. Do not let them look for a proof of the church from the mouth of people. Let them look for it from the mouth of God, look for it from the mouth of Christ. Whoever he calls ungodly is ungodly, whoever he calls just is just, whoever he calls a sheep is a sheep, whoever he calls a goat is a goat. He himself is truth, let him speak, let the church be sought from him. Tell us, Lord, where is your church?

You will readily understand, brothers, that it is a prophecy of Christ coming to people from the seed of David, if you realize the dates. This prophet Ezekiel lived in the time of the captivity, which resulted from the exile of the people to Babylonia. From the time of David to the time of the exile there are fourteen generations.

Then he will raise up one shepherd — who says in the Gospel: I am the good shepherd —, his servant David — inasmuch as he deigned to take on the form of a servant; and 'David' means 'strong of hand' —; he himself will feed them.

Hence also in the same Ezekiel it is written: I will raise up over them one shepherd, and he shall feed them, my servant David; and he shall be their shepherd, and I the Lord will be their God, and David a prince in their midst. I the Lord have spoken, and I will make with David a covenant of peace (Ezek 34:23-25). In this it is to be considered that, long after the time of David, the gluttonous shepherds being rejected, he says he will raise up our Lord, who is of the stock of David, to gather the lambs and cherish them in his bosom, and himself to carry on his shoulder the young of the sheep, or the ewes with young; as we read in the Gospel that he carried back to the fold on his shoulders the sheep that had strayed and stayed behind from its accustomed flock (Luke 15).

On this principle again all the kings whom they had in honor after his time were named from him, both by the people themselves and by God. For both Ezekiel and other prophets besides speak of David as coming and rising again; not meaning him that was dead, but them who were emulating his virtue. And to Hezekiah He saith, "I will defend this city, for mine own sake and for my servant David's sake."

David also is called the Christ, as when Ezekiel prophesied to the shepherds and added, in the person of God, "I will raise up David my servant, who will shepherd them." For the patriarch David will not be raised up to shepherd the saints, but Christ.

Pay close attention, brothers. Note the unity of the godhead, and yet the distribution of persons, in case we should say that he who is the Father is the Son, or that he who is the Son is the Father.

And the Lord will be to them for God — either the Son and the Father, or certainly the shepherd according to the flesh he assumed. But 'Lord' and 'God' according to: The 'Word' that was in the beginning with 'God' —. This David, when the cattle have advanced to being a rational animal, will no longer be called shepherd but prince in the midst of them — of whom it is written: In the midst of you stands he whom you do not know —.

What is "in the desert"? In solitude. What is in solitude? Inside, in the conscience. It is a solitude indeed, because not only do no other human beings cross it, they do not even see it. Let us dwell there in hope, because we are not yet there in fact. After all, everything we have outside chops and changes with the storms and trials of the world. The desert is inside; that is where we should interrogate our faith.

Then he will make with them a covenant of peace — by no means of wars and discord, for: His place was made in peace, but of the peace of Christ: Which surpasses all understanding —, who says: My peace I give to you, my peace I leave to you; and he will make the most evil beasts cease from the land — more mildly: either the passions by which human souls are troubled, or the adverse powers by which they are assailed —, and those who dwell in the desert will sleep secure in the woods — for the Lord will lay bare the thickets of the forests, and in his temple all will speak glory.

And when the beasts have been driven out and the land reduced to a solitude, they will sleep secure from animals of this sort and will say: The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? —; and he will set them, those who will sleep secure, round about his mountain or hill, and they will be a blessing; then he will give rain in its season, and there will be rains of blessing — which he promises in the blessings of Deuteronomy —.

There is also, of course, the bad sort of thunder shower, that knocks down the house built on sand, that it is a great thing even for the house founded on the rock to stand up against. That is the thunder shower of temptation, bent on devastation, not on irrigation, of the earth.

[The fruitful trees are] in the plain, on level ground, not in rugged places, in a relatively easy life. Having things fairly easy in this life, with nothing steep or rugged, toilsome, difficult to cope with, this he calls the plain. Such is the life of many of the faithful in the church of God, who have their wives and husbands, children, families. They are like trees in the plain; they are not strong enough to climb anything steep or rugged. But only let them receive the shower; these trees too will give their fruit.

And the tree of life, he says, will give — of which it is written in Genesis —, and the tree of wisdom — of which it is said: It is a tree of life to all who take it up —: it will give its fruit when the earth too has given its fruit, or the trees of the regions, the very great multitude of the saints; and the earth will give its shoot: for Truth indeed has sprung from the earth; and they will be in their own land without fear, or in hope of peace, in the land of the living — the land of the meek, of which it is written: Blessed are the gentle, for they shall possess the land —, so that through the felicity of all things they may know that he himself is the Lord, when he has broken the chains or the iron ring of their yoke, by which they were pressed down as by a most heavy rule, and has rescued them from the hand of those ruling over them, or of those afflicting them with servitude: For each one is the slave of him by whom he is overcome.

And they will by no means be a prey any longer to the demonic nations, nor will the beasts of the earth, of which we have spoken, devour them, but they will dwell confidently without any terror, according to the exposition above.

The church has been raised up to such a pinnacle in the name of Christ that all who curse are now put to shame and dare not curse anymore.

And I will raise up for them, he says, a renowned shoot (or a planting of peace) — which speaks in the Gospel: I am the true vine —, and they will no longer be diminished by famine in the land — so the famine is in earthly things; but the famine of hearing the word of God, which, under the good shepherd, and the renowned shoot, celebrated in the speech of all, and the planting of peace, will by no means be in the land —, nor will they be subject any longer to the reproaches of the nations — so that they say: Where is the Lord their God? —; and after all these things they will know, not only that he himself is the Lord — which he had also said above —, but, with an addition, that the Lord of all is properly their God, with them — who says in the Gospel to the apostles: Behold, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the age —; and when he himself is the Lord their God, then they too will be his people: not just anyone, but those who have deserved to be called the house of Israel.

O how blessed we are with such a possession and such a possessor! Because as well as him possessing us, we also possess him. He possesses us in order to tend us, and we possess him in order to tend him. But we tend him with worship as God, he tends us with cultivation as a field.

And lest we should think that all that has been said pertains to shepherds and sheep and he-goats and rams, he solves the riddle, or rather the μεταφορὰν, and sets it down more plainly: But you, my sheep, and the sheep of my pasture, are men; the whole discourse, therefore, is about men, to whom he says: I the Lord your God, says the Lord God.