You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor.
Parallel Translations
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You haven’t strengthened the diseased. You haven’t healed that which was sick. You haven’t bound up that which was broken. You haven’t brought back that which was driven away. You haven’t sought that which was lost, but you have ruled over them with force and with rigor.
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The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
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The weak have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought back that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force have ye ruled over them and with rigour.
Cross-references (18)
Passages linked to Ezekiel 34:4 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 18:12-13 “What do you think? If a man has one hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine, go to the mountains, and seek that which has gone astray? If he finds it, most certainly I tell you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.
- Ezekiel 34:16 “I will seek that which was lost, and will bring back that which was driven away, and will bind up that which was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them in justice.” ’
- Matthew 9:36 But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and scattered, like sheep without a shepherd.
- Matthew 10:6 Rather, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
- Zechariah 11:15-16 Yahweh said to me, “Take for yourself yet again the equipment of a foolish shepherd. For, behold, I will raise up a shepherd in the land, who will not visit those who are cut off, neither will seek those who are scattered, nor heal that which is broken, nor feed that which is sound; but he will eat the meat of the fat sheep, and will tear their hoofs in pieces.
- 1 Peter 5:2-3 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, exercising the oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, not for dishonest gain, but willingly; not as lording it over those entrusted to you, but making yourselves examples to the flock.
- Exodus 1:13-14 The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
- Hebrews 12:12 Therefore lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees,
- Jeremiah 8:22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then isn’t the health of the daughter of my people recovered?
- Revelation 17:5-6 And on her forehead a name was written, “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.
- Isaiah 56:10 His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all mute dogs. They can’t bark— dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber.
- Matthew 24:49 and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eat and drink with the drunkards,
- 2 Corinthians 1:24 We don’t control your faith, but are fellow workers with you for your joy. For you stand firm in faith.
- James 5:1-6 Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. You have lived in luxury on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you.
- Revelation 13:14-17 He deceives my own people who dwell on the earth because of the signs he was granted to do in front of the beast, saying to those who dwell on the earth that they should make an image to the beast who had the sword wound and lived. It was given to him to give breath to it, to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause as many as wouldn’t worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands, or on their foreheads; and that no one would be able to buy or to sell, unless he has that mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of his name.
- Jeremiah 22:13 “Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire;
- Matthew 21:35 The farmers took his servants, beat one, killed another, and stoned another.
- Luke 15:4-6 “Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain He describeth the office and duty of a good…
He describeth the office and duty of a good pastor, who ought to love and succor his flock, and not to be cruel toward them.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Eze 34:4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither…
Eze 34:4 The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up [that which was] broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them.
Ver. 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened.] Five sorts of sheep are here reckoned up that needed the shepherd’s best care and cure, but nothing was done; or, if anything, it was overdone, for with force and cruelty they ruled over them. See 1Pe 5:3.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The weak and languishing, ( such there are in…
The weak and languishing, ( such there are in the church and state,) with your hand, countenance, and counsel; so these metaphorical shepherds should as the other strengthen their sheep, with carrying them into good and quiet pastures. The sheep in our pastures are subject to many sicknesses, the sheep in church and state to more, and shepherds in both should be as physicians to heal them; but here these did not so. Sometimes violent and ravenous beasts break their bones, sometimes the stronger and fatter sheep bruise or break them, these should the shepherds bind up; violent oppressors in the state and in the church broke many of them, but these shepherds bound them not up. Sheep are often driven out of the pasture, frighted, hunted, and pursued by dogs, or other mischievous creatures; these the shepherd should find out, and bring back: in church and state there were many such, frighted and driven by fierce men like dogs running upon them, but the Jewish rulers took no care to inquire for them, or to bring them back to their own. country. Sheep wander and lose themselves, shepherds should seek such and bring them home; many political sheep among the Jews wandered from their country, their king, religion, and God, and these careless rulers never sought them, but ruled them with hard hand, that held fast all that should look like royal power and privilege, and rigorously executed all their grievous laws and edicts. With cruelty, such as the Egyptians used toward the Jews, Exo 1:13,14; instead of acting like shepherds, these tyrants in the Jewish polity acted like merciless butchers in church and state.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain The diseased have ye not strengthened,.... Such, in the…
The diseased have ye not strengthened,.... Such, in the civil polity, who were poor, and in necessitous circumstances, were not relieved; such who were injured and oppressed by others were not vindicated; and such as were forced to flee to other countries, or were carried captive, no care was taken, or methods used, to ransom them, and, bring them back; all which may be meant by this and the following metaphors, taken from the evil things that befall a flock of sheep: and such who were weak through spiritual diseases, their prophets and teachers took no care to cure them of their diseases, and to strengthen these feeble minded ones with divine cordials and spiritual food, and confirm them in the faith:
neither have ye healed that which was sick; by directing them to the great Physician of souls, and to his precious blood for healing and pardon of sin:
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neither have ye bound up that which was broken; whose consciences were wounded, and hearts broken, with a sense of sin; or who had fallen to the breaking of their bones, and should be restored in a spirit of meekness and dealt gently with, as surgeons do in setting and binding up broken bones:
neither have ye brought again that which was driven away; or, "was gone astray" (r); being seduced by false teachers; and yet, though it was known they were, no care nor pains were taken to reclaim and restore them:
neither have ye sought that which was lost; that wandered of their own accord, and perished for want of knowledge, and were lost for lack of a guide to direct them, and no one would do this good office to them:
but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them; in an arbitrary and tyrannical way, lording it over God, s heritage, Pe1 5:3.
(r) "vagam aut errantem", Bochartus, and some in Vatablus.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The diseased - The weak and languishing. Bound up…
The diseased - The weak and languishing. Bound up - Oppressors in the state, or church, broke many then, but these shepherds bound them not up.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened] No…
Verse 4. The diseased have ye not strengthened] No person is fit for the office of a shepherd, who does not well understand the diseases to which sheep are incident, and the mode of cure. And is any man fit for the pastoral office, or to be a shepherd of souls, who is not well acquainted with the disease of sin in all its varieties, and the remedy for this disease, and the proper mode of administering it, in those various cases? He who does not know Jesus Christ as his own Saviour, never can recommend him to others. He who is not saved, will not save.
Neither have ye healed that which was sick] The prophet first speaks of the general disease; next, of the different kinds of spiritual infirmity.
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Neither have ye bound up that which was broken] If a sheep have broken a leg, a proper shepherd knows how to set the bones, and splint and bind it till the bones knit and become strong. And the skilful spiritual pastor knows, if one of the flock be overtaken in a fault, how to restore such. Those sudden falls, where there was not a strong propensity to sin, are, to the soul, as a broken bone to the body.
Neither have ye brought again] A proper shepherd loves his sheep: he feels interested for their welfare; he acquaints himself with them all, so that he knows and can distinguish each. He knows also their number, and frequently counts to see that none is missing; if one be lost or strayed, he goes immediately and seeks it; and as he is constantly on the watch, it cannot have strayed far before he is apprised of its absence from the flock; and the less it has strayed, the sooner it is found and brought back to the fold.
The shepherds of Israel knew nothing about their flock; they might have been diseased, infirm, bruised, maimed, their limbs broken, strayed, and lost; for they watched not over them. When they got fat sheep and wool for their table and their clothing, they regarded nothing else; as they considered the flock given them for their own use, and scarcely ever supposed that they were to give any thing in return for the milk and the wool.
But with force and with cruelty] Exacting tithes and dues by the strong arm of the law, with the most ungodly feeling; and with a cruelty of disposition that proved it was the fat and the wool they sought, and not the safety or comfort of the flock.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Healed. God alone can restore to life. But pastors…
Healed. God alone can restore to life. But pastors will not be excused by ignorance if they know not the maladies and the remedies of their flock. --- Hand. This was blamed in the Pharisees, and is contrary to the spirit of the gospel, Matthew xxiii. 4., and 1 Peter v. 2.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The diseased--rather, those weak from the effects of "disease,"…
The diseased--rather, those weak from the effects of "disease," as "strengthened" (that is, with due nourishment) requires [GROTIUS].
broken--that is, fractures from wounds inflicted by the wolf.
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brought again . . . driven away-- (Exo 23:4). Those "driven away" by the enemy into foreign lands through God's judgments are meant (Jer 23:3). A spiritual reformation of the state by the rulers would have turned away God's wrath, and "brought again" the exiles. The rulers are censured as chiefly guilty (though the people, too, were guilty), because they, who ought to have been foremost in checking the evil, promoted it.
neither . . . sought . . . lost--Contrast the Good Shepherd's love (Luk 15:4).
with force . . . ruled-- (Exo 1:13-14). With an Egyptian bondage. The very thing forbidden by the law they did (Lev 25:43; compare Pe1 5:3).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 4. Five classes are here mentioned, in Eze_34:16 only…
4. Five classes are here mentioned, in Eze_34:16 only four, the “diseased” being wanting, and “strengthen” used here of the diseased is said there of the sick. The “broken” is the hurt or bruised; the “lost” that which has wandered away of itself, in distinction from that “driven away” by violence.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain The diseased have ye not strengthened. The verbs indicate…
The diseased have ye not strengthened. The verbs indicate the difference between the "diseased," i.e. the weak sheep (comp. Isa_40:11; Psa_78:71) and the sick, that were suffering from more definite maladies. So the broken are the sheep that have fallen from a rock and thus maimed themselves. Each case required its appropriate treatment, and none had met with it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Yahweh continues giving Ezekiel his message to the leaders of Israel.
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General Information:
Yahweh continues speaking of the people of Israel as if they were a flock of sheep and the leaders of Israel as if they were shepherds who have not cared for the flock. (See: Metaphor)
have diseases
Possible meanings are 1) "are sick" or 2) "are weak"
You do not bind up the ones who are broken
"You do not wrap cloth around the broken bones of those who are wounded"
the ones who are broken
"the sheep that have broken bones" or "the sheep that are injured"
you do not restore
"you do not bring back"
the outcasts
"the sheep that have been chased away" or "those that others have chased away"
the lost
The words "the sheep or goats" are left out of this phrase, but they are intended to be understood. AT: "the sheep or goats that are lost" (See: Ellipsis)
through strength and violence
"forcefully and cruelly"
Then they were scattered without a shepherd
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Then they scattered because they did not have a shepherd" (See: Active or Passive)
they became food for all the living beasts in the fields
"all of the wild animals could attack and eat them"
it is dispersed over the entire surface of the earth
"my flock is spread out all over the earth"
translationWords
cure
restore
disperse
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.