Ezekiel 34:18

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet?

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — The Lord GOD addresses the ruling class, labeled as rams and goats, immediately after announcing He will judge between them and the flock. This occurs within a prophetic oracle condemning leaders who exploit the community they are meant to protect.

The words — The Hebrew יֶ֙תֶר (ye.ter) means "rest" or "remainder," paired with תִּרְמְס֖וּ (tir.me.Su), "you are trampling," to describe the spoilage of shared resources. These terms highlight the destructive excess of taking only the best while actively ruining what remains.

The thread — The rhetorical structure "Is it not enough for you..." echoes Numbers 16:9, where rebels are confronted for demanding positions beyond their allotted role. Jesus later applies similar accusations of hypocritical exclusion to the scribes and Pharisees in Matthew 23:13 and Luke 11:52.

Why it lands — The passage demands that those in authority stop consuming exclusive advantages while actively destroying the common good. It requires readers to examine whether their actions hoard resources and leave others with only what has been ruined.

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

הַמְעַ֣טha/m.'At¿/ [too] littleמִכֶּ֗םmi./Kemfor/ youהַמִּרְעֶ֤הha./mir.'Eh[is] the/ pasture הַטּוֹב֙ha./tOv<the>/ good תִּרְע֔וּtir.'U[which] you are grazing וְיֶ֙תֶר֙ve./Ye.terand/ [the] rest of מִרְעֵיכֶ֔םmir.'ei./Khempasture/ your תִּרְמְס֖וּtir.me.Suyou are trampling בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֑םbe./rag.lei./Khemwith/ feet/ your וּמִשְׁקַע־u./mish.ka'-and/ clearness of מַ֣יִםMa.yimwaters תִּשְׁתּ֔וּtish.Tu[which] you are drinking וְאֵת֙ve./'Etand/ <obj.>הַנּ֣וֹתָרִ֔יםha./No.ta.Rimthose/ [which] are left בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֖םbe./rag.lei./Khemwith/ feet/ your תִּרְפֹּשֽׂוּן׃tir.po.Su/nyou are fouling/ !

King James Version

Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?

Cross-references

Matthew 23:13 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let in those who wish to enter.
Luke 11:52 Woe to you experts in the law! For you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”
Numbers 16:9 Is it not enough for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel and brought you near to Himself to perform the work at the LORD’s tabernacle, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them?
Numbers 16:13 Is it not enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? Must you also appoint yourself as ruler over us?
2 Samuel 7:19 And as if this was a small thing in Your eyes, O Lord GOD, You have also spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. Is this Your custom with man, O Lord GOD?
Isaiah 7:13 Then Isaiah said, “Hear now, O house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of men? Will you try the patience of my God as well?
Ezekiel 34:2 “Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock?
Ezekiel 16:20 You even took the sons and daughters you bore to Me and sacrificed them as food to idols. Was your prostitution not enough?
Ezekiel 16:47 And you not only walked in their ways and practiced their abominations, but soon you were more depraved than they were.
Ezekiel 32:2 “Son of man, take up a lament for Pharaoh king of Egypt and say to him: ‘You are like a lion among the nations; you are like a monster in the seas. You thrash about in your rivers, churning up the waters with your feet and muddying the streams.’