New International VersionBecause you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak sheep with your horns until you have driven them away,
New Living TranslationFor you fat sheep pushed and butted and crowded my sick and hungry flock until you scattered them to distant lands.
English Standard VersionBecause you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad,
Berean Standard BibleSince you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,
King James BibleBecause ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
New King James VersionBecause you have pushed with side and shoulder, butted all the weak ones with your horns, and scattered them abroad,
New American Standard BibleSince you push away with your side and shoulder, and gore all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,
NASB 1995“Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,
NASB 1977“Because you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad,
Legacy Standard BibleBecause you push with side and with shoulder, and thrust at all the sickly with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,
Amplified BibleBecause you push with side and shoulder, and gore with your horns all those that have become weak and sick until you have scattered them away,
Christian Standard BibleSince you have pushed with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns until you scattered them all over,
Holman Christian Standard BibleSince you have pushed with flank and shoulder and butted all the weak ones with your horns until you scattered them all over,
American Standard VersionBecause ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
Contemporary English VersionYou strong ones have used your powerful horns to chase off those that are weak,
English Revised VersionBecause ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
GOD'S WORD® TranslationYou fat sheep push the skinny sheep with your sides and shoulders, and you knock down all the sick sheep with your horns. You have scattered them all over.
Good News TranslationYou pushed the sick ones aside and butted them away from the flock.
International Standard Versionsince you've been bumping aside all the weaker sheep with your backsides and shoulders, butting them with your horns until they're scattered around outside.
NET BibleBecause you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad,
New Heart English BibleBecause you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad;
Webster's Bible TranslationBecause ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad; Majority Text Translations Majority Standard BibleSince you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad,
World English BibleBecause you thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the diseased with your horns, until you have scattered them abroad, Literal Translations Literal Standard VersionBecause you thrust away with side and with shoulder, "" And push all the diseased with your horns, "" Until you have scattered them to the out-place,
Young's Literal Translation Because with side and with shoulder ye thrust away, And with your horns push all the diseased, Till ye have scattered them to the out-place,
Smith's Literal TranslationBecause with side and with shoulder ye will thrust away, and with your horns ye pushed all the sickly till that ye scattered them without; Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims BibleBecause you thrusted with sides and shoulders, and struck all the weak cattle with your horns, till they were scattered abroad:
Catholic Public Domain VersionFor you have pushed with your sides and shoulders, and you have threatened all the weak cattle with your horns, until they were scattered abroad.
New American BibleBecause you push with flank and shoulder, and butt all the weak sheep with your horns until you drive them off,
New Revised Standard VersionBecause you pushed with flank and shoulder, and butted at all the weak animals with your horns until you scattered them far and wide, Translations from Aramaic Lamsa BibleBecause they have thrust with their sides and shoulders, and pushed all the weak with their horns, till they have scattered them abroad;
Peshitta Holy Bible TranslatedBecause they were pushing with their sides and with their shoulders and were goring all the weak with their horns until they scattered them out OT Translations JPS Tanakh 1917Because ye thrust with side and with shoulder, and push all the weak with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
Brenton Septuagint TranslationYe did thrust with your sides and shoulders, and pushed with your horns, and ye cruelly treated all the sick.
Additional Translations ... Audio Bible
Context The Good Shepherd… 20Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. 21Sinceyou shovewith flankand shoulder,buttingallthe weak oneswith your hornsuntilyou have scatteredthemabroad,22I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another.…
Cross References Matthew 25:32-33All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. / He will place the sheep on His right and the goats on His left.
John 10:11-16I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. / The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock. / The man runs away because he is a hired servant and is unconcerned for the sheep. ...
Jeremiah 23:1-4“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. / Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says about the shepherds who tend My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your deeds, declares the LORD. / Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock from all the lands to which I have banished them, and I will return them to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and multiply. ...
Zechariah 11:16-17For behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land who will neither care for the lost, nor seek the young, nor heal the broken, nor sustain the healthy, but he will devour the flesh of the choice sheep and tear off their hooves. / 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!”
Isaiah 56:11-12Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain: / “Come, let me get the wine, let us imbibe the strong drink, and tomorrow will be like today, only far better!”
Micah 3:1-3Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice? / You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones. / You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”
Matthew 23:4They tie up heavy, burdensome loads and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Luke 15:4-7“What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? / And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, / comes home, and calls together his friends and neighbors to tell them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep!’ ...
John 21:15-17When they had finished eating, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love Me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus replied, “Feed My lambs.” / Jesus asked a second time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” “Yes, Lord,” he answered, “You know I love You.” Jesus told him, “Shepherd My sheep.” / Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
1 Peter 5:2-3Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; / not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
Acts 20:28-30Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. / I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. / Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them.
Jeremiah 50:6-7My people are lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray, causing them to roam the mountains. They have wandered from mountain to hill; they have forgotten their resting place. / All who found them devoured them, and their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture, the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’
Zechariah 10:2-3For idols speak deceit and diviners see illusions; they tell false dreams and offer empty comfort. Therefore the people wander like sheep, oppressed for lack of a shepherd. / “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 battle.
Isaiah 40:11He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.
Psalm 23:1-4A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. / He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters. / He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness for the sake of His name. ...
Treasury of Scripture Because you have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad; ye have Ezekiel 34:3-5 Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed:but ye feed not the flock… Daniel 8:3-10 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which hadtwo horns: and thetwo hornswere high; but onewas higher than the other, and the higher came up last… Zechariah 11:5,16,17 Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessedbe the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not… pushed Luke 13:14-16 And the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because that Jesus had healed on the sabbath day, and said unto the people, There are six days in which men ought to work: in them therefore come and be healed, and not on the sabbath day… Jump to Previous AbroadButtingDirectionDiseasedDrivenFlankHornsLegOnesOut-PlacePushPushedPushingScatteredSheepShoulderSideThrustWeakJump to Next AbroadButtingDirectionDiseasedDrivenFlankHornsLegOnesOut-PlacePushPushedPushingScatteredSheepShoulderSideThrustWeakEzekiel 34 1.A reproof of the shepherds7.God's judgment against them11.His providence over his flock20.The kingdom of ChristSince you shove with flank and shoulderThis phrase illustrates the aggressive and domineering behavior of the leaders of Israel, who are likened to strong sheep or rams pushing others aside. In the context of Ezekiel 34, God is addressing the shepherds of Israel, who have failed in their duty to care for the flock. The imagery of shoving with flank and shoulder suggests a forceful and selfish attitude, prioritizing their own needs over the welfare of the weaker members of the community. This behavior is condemned as it reflects a lack of compassion and responsibility, which are essential qualities of a true shepherd. The metaphor of sheep and shepherds is common in the Bible, with leaders often depicted as shepherds responsible for the well-being of their people (e.g., Psalm 23, John 10:11-14). butting all the weak ones with your horns
The use of "butting" with horns further emphasizes the aggressive and harmful actions of the leaders. Horns in biblical symbolism often represent strength and power (e.g.,Daniel 7:24,Revelation 17:12). Here, the leaders are using their power to harm rather than protect, targeting the weak and vulnerable. This behavior is contrary to the biblical mandate for leaders to defend and support those who are powerless (e.g.,Isaiah 1:17,James 1:27). The weak ones represent those in society who are marginalized or oppressed, and the leaders' actions are a direct violation of their duty to serve and uplift these individuals. until you have scattered them abroad
The result of the leaders' actions is the scattering of the flock, which signifies disunity and vulnerability. In the ancient Near Eastern context, a scattered flock was at risk of predation and lacked the protection and guidance of a shepherd. This scattering is symbolic of the spiritual and social disintegration of Israel due to the negligence and abuse of its leaders. The scattering of God's people is a recurring theme in the Bible, often associated with judgment and exile (e.g.,Deuteronomy 28:64,Jeremiah 23:1-2). However, it also sets the stage for God's promise of restoration and gathering, as seen later inEzekiel 34:23-24, where God promises to set up one shepherd, a prophecy often interpreted as pointing to Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd who gathers and cares for His flock (John 10:16). Persons / Places / Events 1. EzekielA prophet in the Old Testament, Ezekiel was called by God to deliver messages to the Israelites during their Babylonian exile. His prophecies often included visions and symbolic actions. 2. IsraelThe nation of God's chosen people, who were in exile in Babylon at the time of Ezekiel's prophecies. They are often depicted as sheep in need of a shepherd. 3. Shepherds of IsraelThese are the leaders of Israel, both religious and political, who were supposed to care for the people but instead exploited them. 4. The Fat Sheep and the Lean SheepSymbolic representations of the powerful and the oppressed within the community of Israel. The "fat sheep" are those who have taken advantage of others. 5. God as the True ShepherdIn contrast to the unfaithful human shepherds, God promises to be the true shepherd who will care for His people. Teaching Points The Responsibility of LeadershipLeaders are accountable to God for how they treat those under their care. Just as the shepherds of Israel were judged for their failure, leaders today must ensure they are serving rather than exploiting. God's Justice and CareGod sees the injustices and will act to protect and provide for His people. Believers can trust in God's ultimate justice and care, even when human leaders fail. The Call to Be ShepherdsEvery believer is called to reflect God's shepherding heart by caring for others, especially the vulnerable and oppressed. This involves actively seeking justice and mercy in our communities. Repentance and RestorationThe passage calls for self-examination and repentance for those who have acted like the "fat sheep." God offers restoration and healing for those who turn back to Him. The Role of Jesus as the Good ShepherdJesus fulfills the promise of God to be the true shepherd. Believers are invited to follow His example and trust in His guidance and protection. Lists and Questions Top 10 Lessons from Ezekiel 34
What is the Unholy Trinity?
In Ezekiel 21:3-4, how can God threaten to destroy both the righteous and the wicked without contradicting other texts that portray Him as just?
In Ezekiel 8:3-4, what evidence supports or contradicts the claim Ezekiel was physically transported to Jerusalem by a divine hand?
How do interpreters harmonize the restoration promises in Ezekiel 39:21-29 with other Old Testament passages that describe different outcomes for Israel?
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew Sinceיַ֗עַן(ya·‘an)Adverb
Strong's 3282:Heed, purpose, to indicate the reason, causeyou shoveתֶּהְדֹּ֔פוּ(teh·dō·p̄ū)Verb - Qal - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 1920:To thrust, drive, pushwith flankבְּצַ֤ד(bə·ṣaḏ)Preposition-b | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 6654:A side, an adversaryand shoulder,וּבְכָתֵף֙(ū·ḇə·ḵā·ṯêp̄)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 3802:The shoulder, side-piece, lateral projection of anythingand buttתְּנַגְּח֖וּ(tə·nag·gə·ḥū)Verb - Piel - Imperfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 5055:To butt with the horns, to war againstallכָּל־(kāl-)Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 3605:The whole, all, any, everythe weak onesהַנַּחְל֑וֹת(han·naḥ·lō·wṯ)Article | Verb - Nifal - Participle - feminine plural
Strong's 2470:To be weak or sickwith your hornsוּבְקַרְנֵיכֶ֥ם(ū·ḇə·qar·nê·ḵem)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-b | Noun - fdc | second person masculine plural
Strong's 7161:A horn, a flask, cornet, an elephant's tooth, a corner, a peak, a ray, poweruntilעַ֣ד(‘aḏ)Preposition
Strong's 5704:As far as, even to, up to, until, whileyou scatteredהֲפִיצוֹתֶ֛ם(hă·p̄î·ṣō·w·ṯem)Verb - Hifil - Perfect - second person masculine plural
Strong's 6327:To be dispersed or scatteredthemאוֹתָ֖נָה(’ō·w·ṯā·nāh)Direct object marker | third person feminine plural
Strong's 853:Untranslatable mark of the accusative caseabroad,הַחֽוּצָה׃(ha·ḥū·ṣāh)Article | Noun - masculine singular | third person feminine singular
Strong's 2351:Separate by a, wall, outside, outdoors
Links Ezekiel 34:21 NIVEzekiel 34:21 NLTEzekiel 34:21 ESVEzekiel 34:21 NASBEzekiel 34:21 KJV
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OT Prophets: Ezekiel 34:21 Because you thrust with side and (Ezek. Eze Ezk) |
