Ezekiel 34:1-31

(1)  The word of the LORD came to me:

(2)  "Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel; prophesy, and say to them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord GOD: Ah, shepherds of Israel who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep?

(3)  You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fat ones, but you do not feed the sheep.

(4)  The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought, and with force and harshness you have ruled them.

(5)  So they were scattered, because there was no shepherd, and they became food for all the wild beasts.

(6)  My sheep were scattered; they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill. My sheep were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for them.

(7)  "Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

(8)  As I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed my sheep,

(9)  therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD:

(10)  Thus says the Lord GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will require my sheep at their hand and put a stop to their feeding the sheep. No longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be food for them.

(11)  "For thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.

(12)  As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered, so will I seek out my sheep, and I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness.

(13)  And I will bring them out from the peoples and gather them from the countries, and will bring them into their own land. And I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the ravines, and in all the inhabited places of the country.

(14)  I will feed them with good pasture, and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land. There they shall lie down in good grazing land, and on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel.

(15)  I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord GOD.

(16)  I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

(17)  "As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.

(18)  Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must tread down with your feet the rest of your pasture; and to drink of clear water, that you must muddy the rest of the water with your feet?

(19)  And must my sheep eat what you have trodden with your feet, and drink what you have muddied with your feet?

(20)  "Therefore, thus says the Lord GOD to them: Behold, I, I myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep.

(21)  Because you push with side and shoulder, and thrust at all the weak with your horns, till you have scattered them abroad,

(22)  I will rescue my flock; they shall no longer be a prey. And I will judge between sheep and sheep.

(23)  And I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them: he shall feed them and be their shepherd.

(24)  And I, the LORD, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them. I am the LORD; I have spoken.

(25)  "I will make with them a covenant of peace and banish wild beasts from the land, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the woods.

(26)  And I will make them and the places all around my hill a blessing, and I will send down the showers in their season; they shall be showers of blessing.

(27)  And the trees of the field shall yield their fruit, and the earth shall yield its increase, and they shall be secure in their land. And they shall know that I am the LORD, when I break the bars of their yoke, and deliver them from the hand of those who enslaved them.

(28)  They shall no more be a prey to the nations, nor shall the beasts of the land devour them. They shall dwell securely, and none shall make them afraid.

(29)  And I will provide for them renowned plantations so that they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, and no longer suffer the reproach of the nations.

(30)  And they shall know that I am the LORD their God with them, and that they, the house of Israel, are my people, declares the Lord GOD.

(31)  And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord GOD."

Matthew 21:1-46

(1)  Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples,

(2)  saying to them, "Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me.

(3)  If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord needs them,' and he will send them at once."

(4)  This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying,

(5)  "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.'"

(6)  The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them.

(7)  They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them.

(8)  Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

(9)  And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!"

(10)  And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, "Who is this?"

(11)  And the crowds said, "This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee."

(12)  And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

(13)  He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you make it a den of robbers."

(14)  And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

(15)  But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant,

(16)  and they said to him, "Do you hear what these are saying?" And Jesus said to them, "Yes; have you never read, "'Out of the mouth of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise'?"

(17)  And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.

(18)  In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.

(19)  And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.

(20)  When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"

(21)  And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' it will happen.

(22)  And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith."

(23)  And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?"

(24)  Jesus answered them, "I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things.

(25)  The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?" And they discussed it among themselves, saying, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?'

(26)  But if we say, 'From man,' we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet."

(27)  So they answered Jesus, "We do not know." And he said to them, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.

(28)  "What do you think? A man had two sons. And he went to the first and said, 'Son, go and work in the vineyard today.'

(29)  And he answered, 'I will not,' but afterward he changed his mind and went.

(30)  And he went to the other son and said the same. And he answered, 'I go, sir,' but did not go.

(31)  Which of the two did the will of his father?" They said, "The first." Jesus said to them, "Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of God before you.

(32)  For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him. And even when you saw it, you did not afterward change your minds and believe him.

(33)  "Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a winepress in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country.

(34)  When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit.

(35)  And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another.

(36)  Again he sent other servants, more than the first. And they did the same to them.

(37)  Finally he sent his son to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.'

(38)  But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.'

(39)  And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

(40)  When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?"

(41)  They said to him, "He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons."

(42)  Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures: "'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?

(43)  Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

(44)  And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him."

(45)  When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

(46)  And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

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