Ezekiel 34:16

I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bind up the broken, and strengthen the weak; but the sleek and strong I will destroy. I will shepherd them with justice.’

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Lord GOD speaks to His flock (Israel), positioned between His promise to tend them (v.15) and His declaration that He will judge between the sheep (v.17). The broader context is a rebuke of Israel's shepherds who failed in these duties (v.4).

The words — אֶחֱבֹ֔שׁ ('e.che.Vosh), "I will bind up," from the root ḥ-b-sh (H2280), denotes the physical act of binding a wound — a hands-on, concrete healing rather than an abstract promise.

The thread — Ezekiel 34:4 lists these same actions as the failures of Israel's shepherds; 34:11 announces God's intent to search for His flock; Luke 19:10 echoes the seeking language in Jesus' self-description ("seek and save the lost").

Why it lands — The verse pairs tenderness with violence: the same speaker who binds the broken destroys the sleek and strong. It refuses to let the reader keep only the comfort and discard the warning.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

אֶת־'et-<obj.>הָאֹבֶ֤דֶתha./'o.Ve.detthe/ lost [one]אֲבַקֵּשׁ֙'a.va.KeshI will seek וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>הַנִּדַּ֣חַתha./ni.Da.chatthe/ strayed [one]אָשִׁ֔יב'a.ShivI will bring back וְלַנִּשְׁבֶּ֣רֶתve./la./nish.Be.retand/ <to> the/ broken [one]אֶחֱבֹ֔שׁ'e.che.VoshI will bind up וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>הַחוֹלָ֖הha./cho.Lahthe/ sick [one]אֲחַזֵּ֑ק'a.cha.ZekI will make strong וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>הַשְּׁמֵנָ֧הha./she.me.Nahthe/ fat [one]וְאֶת־ve./'Etand/ <obj.>הַחֲזָקָ֛הha./cha.za.Kahthe/ strong [one]אַשְׁמִ֖יד'ash.MidI will destroy אֶרְעֶ֥נָּה'er.'E./nahI will shepherd/ it בְמִשְׁפָּֽט׃ve./mish.Patwith/ justice

King James Version

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again 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 with judgment.

Cross-references

Luke 19:10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
Ezekiel 34:4 You have not strengthened the weak, healed the sick, bound up the injured, brought back the strays, or searched for the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
Ezekiel 34:11 For this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I Myself will search for My flock and seek them out.
Isaiah 49:26 I will make your oppressors eat their own flesh; they will be drunk on their own blood, as with wine. Then all mankind will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.”
Luke 5:31 Jesus answered, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.
Luke 15:4 “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?
Micah 4:6 “On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will gather the lame; I will assemble the outcast, even those whom I have afflicted.
Ezekiel 39:18 You will eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as though they were rams, lambs, goats, and bulls—all the fattened animals of Bashan.
Mark 2:17 On hearing this, Jesus told them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Isaiah 5:17 Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy.