Ezekiel 34:17

Hebrew Bible

15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. 16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them—with judgment! 17 “‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats. 18 Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet? 19 As for my sheep, they must eat what you trampled with your feet and drink what you have muddied with your feet!

Matthew 25:32

New Testament

30 And throw that worthless slave into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

 Notes and References

"... As a potential source text Ezekiel 34 has some intriguing parallels with the Sheep and the Goats. Ezekiel 34 is an indictment against the shepherds of Israel for their treatment of the sheep under their charge.626 The shepherd/sheep metaphor runs through the entirety of the passage, serving as a more significant image than seen in Matthew 25:31—46. The leaders of Israel have failed the people in several respects: They have fed themselves but not the sheep; they have not sought the stray sheep; they have not aided the sick sheep, they have not defended the sheep and they have tried to devour the sheep. In light of these many failures, God will intervene on behalf of the sheep, taking over the shepherding roles and eventually placing a Davidic shepherd over them. Most of the attention has been paid to the process of separation in Ezekiel 34:17 ..."

Venters, Chad Exploring Psalm 80 as a Source for Matthew 25:31-46 (pp. 175-176) Middlesex University, 2018

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