1 Et factum est verbum Domini ad me, dicens:
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 35, 36, and following) And I will bring you into a desert of peoples, and there I will judge you face to face. Just as I contended with your fathers in the desert of the land of Egypt, so I will judge you, says the Lord.
2 Fili hominis, propheta de pastoribus Israël: propheta, et dices pastoribus: Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Væ pastoribus Israël, qui pascebant semetipsos! nonne greges a pastoribus pascuntur?
Tertullian · AD 220 Quite clearly he states that they have caused the sheep to be lost and to be devoured by the beasts of the field; nor, if they are abandoned, could they avoid being lost in death and devoured. But he does not say that they should be restored after they have been lost in death and devoured.
Jerome · AD 420 But the word is directed to the shepherds of Israel, whom we must understand as either kings, or princes, scribes and Pharisees, and teachers of the Jewish people. Or certainly in the Gospel people, the bishops, presbyters, and deacons: or according to mystical understanding, the Angels of the individual Churches, to whom John wrote in his Apocalypse (Apoc.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 You see, we whom the Lord has deigned, thanks to no merits of ours, to set in this high station (about which a very strict account indeed has to be rendered) have two things about us that must be clearly distinguished: one, that we are Christians, the other, that we are placed in charge. Being Christians is for our sake; being in charge is for yours.
3 Lac comedebatis, et lanis operiebamini, et quod crassum erat occidebatis: gregem autem meum non pascebatis.
Apostolic Constitutions · AD 380 Let him use those tenths and first-fruits, which are given according to the command of God, as a man of God; as also let him dispense in a right manner the free-will offerings which are brought in on account of the poor, to the orphans, the widows, the afflicted, and strangers in distress, as having that God for the examiner of his accounts who has committed the disposition to…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 In the same way, everyone who leads a bad life for all those to see whom he has been put in charge of, as far as he is concerned is killing even the strong ones. Any who imitate him die; whoever does not imitate him lives.
Symeon the New Theologian · AD 1022 Hasten then to increase the flock of your master! Do not turn aside to relaxations or pleasures of the body or vilely squander the wool and the fat of Christ's sheep by hoarding up the goods of the monastery for your own benefit rather than of the brothers, so that you may enjoy yourself.
4 Quod infirmum fuit non consolidastis, et quod ægrotum non sanastis: quod confractum est non alligastis, et quod abjectum est non reduxistis, et quod perierat non quæsistis: sed cum austeritate imperabatis eis, et cum potentia.
Cyprian · AD 258 And since it is incumbent on us who seem to be in charge and in the place of shepherds to guard the flock, if we should be found negligent, what will be said to us was said to our predecessors who were such negligent leaders.
Caesarius of Arles · AD 542 Since we have been appointed by the Lord to direct the ship of his church, let us with his help and the direction of the two Testaments so govern the ship of his church that we may not through some negligence turn aside either to the right or to the left but may without effort keep a straight course of life in the midst of the great dangers of this world.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For one who had been cast away is brought back, when any one who has fallen into sin is recalled to a state of righteousness by the vigour of pastoral solicitude. For ligature binds a fracture when discipline subdues a sin, lest the wound should bleed mortally for want of being compressed by the severity of constraint.
5 Et dispersæ sunt oves meæ, eo quod non esset pastor: et factæ sunt in devorationem omnium bestiarum agri, et dispersæ sunt.
Pachomius the Great · AD 348 Let us struggle, my beloved, during these six days of the Passover, for they are given to us each year for the redemption of our souls, that we may spend them in the works of God.… He sent to us the great Shepherd of the sheep that were scattered, to gather us back into his holy fold.
6 Erraverunt greges mei in cunctis montibus, et in universo colle excelso: et super omnem faciem terræ dispersi sunt greges mei, et non erat qui requireret: non erat, inquam, qui requireret.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Pursuing all earthly objects, things that glitter obviously on the face of the earth, they love them, they set their hearts on them. They do not want to die, that their life may be hidden with Christ.… Not all heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth, but still heretics are to be found all over the face of the earth.
7 Propterea, pastores, audite verbum Domini.
8 Vivo ego, dicit Dominus Deus, quia pro eo quod facti sunt greges mei in rapinam, et oves meæ in devorationem omnium bestiarum agri, eo quod non esset pastor: neque enim quæsierunt pastores mei gregem meum, sed pascebant pastores semetipsos, et greges meos non pascebant:
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 But which shepherds are dead? Those who seek their own advantage, not that of Jesus Christ. So will there be shepherds, and will they be found, who do not seek their own advantage but that of Jesus Christ? There certainly will be, and they will certainly be found; they are not lacking, and they won't be lacking.
9 propterea, pastores, audite verbum Domini.
Jerome · AD 420 I myself will go to the shepherds and will seek out my flock from the hand of those who find it convenient to have a millstone placed around their neck.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 These words predict the end both of the kingdom of the Jews and the priesthood. I will free my flocks, he says, from those who look after them badly, who have steered them with no kind of providence but have only continued to devour them. Therefore through our Lord and Savior they are granted salvation.
10 Hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego ipse super pastores: requiram gregem meum de manu eorum, et cessare faciam eos, ut ultra non pascant gregem, nec pascant amplius pastores semetipsos: et liberabo gregem meum de ore eorum, et non erit ultra eis in escam.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Listen and learn, you sheep of God; from the bad shepherds God will require his sheep, and from their hands he will require their death.… So let us see, because that is what I had proposed to do, whether he takes the sheep away from the bad shepherds and gives them to good shepherds.
11 Quia hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego ipse requiram oves meas, et visitabo eas.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 11 onwards) For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his dispersed sheep (or when there is darkness and clouds among his separated sheep), so will I seek out my sheep and will deliver them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkn…
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Rain and fog, the errors of this world; a great darkness arising from human lusts, a thick fog covering the earth. And it is difficult for the sheep not to go astray in this fog. But the shepherd does not desert them. He seeks them, his piercing gaze penetrates the fog, the thick darkness of the clouds does not prevent him.
12 Sicut visitat pastor gregem suum, in die quando fuerit in medio ovium suarum dissipatarum, sic visitabo oves meas, et liberabo eas de omnibus locis in quibus dispersæ fuerant in die nubis et caliginis.
Gregory of Nazianzus · AD 390 He is shepherd to shepherds and a guide to guides: that we may feed his flock with knowledge, not with the instruments of a foolish shepherd.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 When it is difficult for them to be found, now I will find them. The fog is dense, the storm cloud thick; nothing escapes his eyes.
13 Et educam eas de populis, et congregabo eas de terris, et inducam eas in terram suam, et pascam eas in montibus Israël, in rivis, et in cunctis sedibus terræ.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He established the mountains of Israel, the authors of the divine Scriptures. Feed there, in order to feed without a qualm. Whatever you hear from that source, let that taste good to you; anything from outside, spit it out. In order not to go astray in the fog, listen to the voice of the Shepherd. Gather yourselves to the mountains of holy Scripture.
14 In pascuis uberrimis pascam eas, et in montibus excelsis Israël erunt pascua earum: ibi requiescent in herbis virentibus, et in pascuis pinguibus pascentur super montes Israël.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 This is feeding Christ, this is feeding for Christ, this is feeding in Christ, not feeding oneself apart from Christ. There is not really a dearth of shepherds.
15 Ego pascam oves meas, et ego eas accubare faciam, dicit Dominus Deus.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Lift up your eyes to the mountains, by all means, from where help shall come to you—but pay attention to him saying, I myself will be the shepherd.
16 Quod perierat requiram, et quod abjectum erat reducam, et quod confractum fuerat alligabo, et quod infirmum fuerat consolidabo, et quod pingue et forte custodiam: et pascam illas in judicio.
Basil of Caesarea · AD 379 If you are a shepherd, take care that none of your pastoral duties is neglected. And what are these duties? To bring back that which is lost, to bind up that which was broken, to heal that which is diseased.
Theodoret of Cyrus · AD 458 The words against the false shepherds have been hidden, as well as the prediction of God's attentiveness to come. He turns his words to the flocks and teaches the useless shepherds how not to fall back in any way in defending them.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 We must all of us strive zealously to make known to the church both the dreadfulness of the coming judgment and the kingdom of heaven's delight.
17 Vos autem, greges mei, hæc dicit Dominus Deus: Ecce ego judico inter pecus et pecus, arietum et hircorum.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 We who desire to be flocks of the shepherd must never try to escape from being fed even by the very things that seem to diverge from Scripture and are trampled on because of the discordance of what is said by those who neither want nor can use the nourishment that Scripture gives in all its fullness.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 17 onwards) But you, my flock (or sheep), this says the Lord God: Behold, I judge between the sheep, and between rams and goats. Was it not enough for you to graze on good pastures? Moreover, you trampled the remnants of your pastures with your feet, and when you drank the purest water, you disturbed the rest with your feet.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 I am judging. What a relief, what reassurance! [The Lord] is judging; the good can be reassured. No opponent can corrupt their judge, no counselor twist him round their little finger or witness play fast and loose with him. But just as the good can be reassured, so to the same extent the bad should be afraid. He is not the sort of judge things can be kept hidden from.
18 Nonne satis vobis erat pascua bona depasci? insuper et reliquias pascuarum vestrarum conculcastis pedibus vestris: et cum purissimam aquam biberetis, reliquam pedibus vestris turbabatis:
Jerome · AD 420 But these things he spoke against the shepherds: now he speaks to the sheep, that is, to the people: and to the flock of both kinds of livestock, that is, the sheep and the goats: and not only to the sheep and goats, but also to the rams and the bucks, who are the leaders in the flocks, to whom he says: Was it not enough for you to feed on the good pastures of the Scriptures?
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 God's pastures are good, and God's springs are pure. We have them in the holy Scriptures.
Gregory the Dialogist · AD 604 For indeed the shepherds drink most pure water, when with a right understanding they imbibe the streams of truth. But to foul the same water with their feet is to corrupt the studies of holy meditation by evil living.
19 et oves meæ his quæ conculcata pedibus vestris fuerant, pascebantur: et quæ pedes vestri turbaverant, hæc bibebant.
20 Propterea hæc dicit Dominus Deus ad vos: Ecce ego ipse judico inter pecus pingue et macilentum:
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 He makes no further mention of the he-goats. He mentioned them once, so that we would know they exist. He knows them well. After that he speaks as if all are sheep.
21 pro eo quod lateribus et humeris impingebatis, et cornibus vestris ventilabatis omnia infirma pecora, donec dispergerentur foras,
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 If we lament the many sheep that are straying outside, woe to those whose shoulders and sides and horns have brought it about. It is only strong sheep who would do this. Who are the strong? Those who rely on their own righteousness. None but those who called themselves just divided the sheep and drove them outside.
22 salvabo gregem meum, et non erit ultra in rapinam, et judicabo inter pecus et pecus.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Just as we must abominate their injustice and cruelty, so we must praise the mercy of our Shepherd, who is truly our God; he will save his sheep. Perhaps, my brothers, he is doing this when we say this, doing it through the least of his servants, doing it perhaps through unworthy servants. Let him save his sheep; let them hear the voice of their Shepherd and follow him.
23 Et suscitabo super eas pastorem unum qui pascat eas, servum meum David: ipse pascet eas, et ipse erit eis in pastorem.
Origen of Alexandria · AD 253 David also is called the Christ, as when Ezekiel prophesied to the shepherds and added, in the person of God, "I will raise up David my servant, who will shepherd them." For the patriarch David will not be raised up to shepherd the saints, but Christ.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verses 23-24) And I will raise up over them (here and elsewhere) (or over them) one shepherd who will feed them (or him), my servant David: he will feed them (or him): and he will be their shepherd. But I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be prince among them. I, the Lord, have spoken.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 You will readily understand, brothers, that it is a prophecy of Christ coming to people from the seed of David, if you realize the dates. This prophet Ezekiel lived in the time of the captivity, which resulted from the exile of the people to Babylonia. From the time of David to the time of the exile there are fourteen generations.
24 Ego autem Dominus ero eis in Deum, et servus meus David princeps in medio eorum: ego Dominus locutus sum.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 Pay close attention, brothers. Note the unity of the godhead, and yet the distribution of persons, in case we should say that he who is the Father is the Son, or that he who is the Son is the Father.
25 Et faciam cum eis pactum pacis, et cessare faciam bestias pessimas de terra: et qui habitant in deserto, securi dormient in saltibus.
Jerome · AD 420 (Verse 25 onwards) And I will make a covenant (or testament) of peace with them, and I will cause the most harmful beasts to cease from the earth, and those who dwell in the wilderness will sleep safely in the woods. And I will place them around my hill as a blessing, and I will bring rain in its season, and the rains will be a blessing.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 What is "in the desert"? In solitude. What is in solitude? Inside, in the conscience. It is a solitude indeed, because not only do no other human beings cross it, they do not even see it. Let us dwell there in hope, because we are not yet there in fact. After all, everything we have outside chops and changes with the storms and trials of the world.
26 Et ponam eos in circuitu collis mei benedictionem, et deducam imbrem in tempore suo: pluviæ benedictionis erunt.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 There is also, of course, the bad sort of thunder shower, that knocks down the house built on sand, that it is a great thing even for the house founded on the rock to stand up against. That is the thunder shower of temptation, bent on devastation, not on irrigation, of the earth.
27 Et dabit lignum agri fructum suum, et terra dabit germen suum, et erunt in terra sua absque timore: et scient quia ego Dominus, cum contrivero catenas jugi eorum, et eruero eos de manu imperantium sibi.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 [The fruitful trees are] in the plain, on level ground, not in rugged places, in a relatively easy life. Having things fairly easy in this life, with nothing steep or rugged, toilsome, difficult to cope with, this he calls the plain. Such is the life of many of the faithful in the church of God, who have their wives and husbands, children, families.
28 Et non erunt ultra in rapinam in gentibus, neque bestiæ terræ devorabunt eos: sed habitabunt confidenter absque ullo terrore.
29 Et suscitabo eis germen nominatum, et non erunt ultra imminuti fame in terra, neque portabunt ultra opprobrium gentium.
Jerome · AD 420 And they will no longer be a prey to demonic nations; nor will the beasts of the earth devour those of whom we have spoken: but they will dwell confidently without any fear, according to the above explanation. And I will raise up for them a named offspring, or a planting of peace, which is spoken of in the Gospel: I am the true vine (John 15:1).
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 The church has been raised up to such a pinnacle in the name of Christ that all who curse are now put to shame and dare not curse anymore.
30 Et scient quia ego Dominus Deus eorum cum eis, et ipsi populus meus domus Israël, ait Dominus Deus.
Jerome · AD 420 A famine, a famine of hearing the Word of God, will never take place on the earth under a good shepherd descended from a famous stock, whose words are acclaimed by everyone and who sows peace on the earth.
31 Vos autem, greges mei, greges pascuæ meæ, homines estis: et ego Dominus Deus vester, dicit Dominus Deus.
Augustine of Hippo · AD 430 O how blessed we are with such a possession and such a possessor! Because as well as him possessing us, we also possess him. He possesses us in order to tend us, and we possess him in order to tend him. But we tend him with worship as God, he tends us with cultivation as a field.