Ezekiel 34:8

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn't feed my sheep;

World English Bible · Public Domain

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לְאָכְלָ֜ה

ʼoklâh

H402

“to/for · food”

Preposition + Noun, Common, Feminine, Singular, Absolute

Appears 18× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Genesis 1:29

Full BDB Definition

Origin: from H401

TWOT: 85b

food - food, eating - object of devouring, consuming - by wild beasts (figurative) - in fire - of judgment (figurative)

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

31: words
18: distinct lemmas
Prophets: section

Notable vocabulary

The rarest word here is לְאָכְלָ֜ה food H402 — appearing just 18 times in the whole Hebrew Bible.

Shared distinctive vocabulary

לְאָכְלָ֜ה food H402 occurs in 18 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

8 verbs
12 nouns
1 adjective
1 pronoun
2 conjunctions
7 particles

Verb forms

הֱיֽוֹת Qal · Infinitive Construct
וַתִּֽהְיֶינָה֩ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
רֹעֶ֔ה Qal · Participle Active
דָרְשׁ֥וּ Qal · Perfect
רֹעַ֖י Qal · Participle Active
וַיִּרְע֤וּ Qal · Sequential Imperfect
הָֽרֹעִים֙ Qal · Participle Active
רָעֽוּ Qal · Perfect

Repetition

Words recur within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

רֹעֶ֔ה to shepherd H7462 ×5
צֹאנִ֣י flock H6629 ×4
חַי living H2416 ×2
הֱיֽוֹת to be H1961 ×2
לֹ֣א not H3808 ×3

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 49 words from the Hebrew and 50 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 31 Hebrew tokens and 51 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Ezekiel 34:8 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

2 Peter 2:13 receiving the wages of unrighteousness; people who count it pleasure to revel in the day-time, spots and blemishes, reveling in their deceit while they feast with you;
Ezekiel 34:2–3 Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and tell them, even to the shepherds, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who feed themselves! Shouldn't the shepherds feed the sheep?
Ezekiel 34:5–6 They were scattered, because there was no shepherd; and they became food to all the animals of the field, and were scattered.
Ezekiel 34:10 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the sheep; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; and I will deliver my sheep from their mouth, that they may not be food for them.
Ezekiel 34:18 Seems it a small thing to you to have fed on the good pasture, but you must tread down with your feet the residue of your pasture? and to have drunk of the clear waters, but you must foul the residue with your feet?
Ezekiel 34:31 You my sheep, the sheep of my pasture, are men, and I am your God, says the Lord Yahweh.
Acts 20:33 I coveted no one's silver, or gold, or clothing.
1 Corinthians 9:15 But I have used none of these things, and I don't write these things that it may be done so in my case; for I would rather die, than that anyone should make my boasting void.

Jude 1:12 These are hidden rocky reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you, shepherds who without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn leaves without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Ezekiel 34:8 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

חַי אָ֜נִי נְאֻ֣ם אֲדֹנָ֣י יְהוִ֗ה אִם לֹ֣א יַ֣עַן הֱיֽוֹת צֹאנִ֣י לָבַ֡ז וַתִּֽהְיֶינָה֩ צֹאנִ֨י לְאָכְלָ֜ה לְכָל חַיַּ֤ת הַשָּׂדֶה֙ מֵאֵ֣ין רֹעֶ֔ה וְלֹֽא דָרְשׁ֥וּ רֹעַ֖י אֶת צֹאנִ֑י וַיִּרְע֤וּ הָֽרֹעִים֙ אוֹתָ֔ם וְאֶת צֹאנִ֖י לֹ֥א רָעֽוּ

As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became food to all the animals of the field, because there was no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my sheep, but the shepherds fed themselves, and didn't feed my sheep;

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Ezekiel 34:8 Septuagint · lemma form

ζάω ἐγώ λέγω κύριος κύριος εἰ μήν ἀντί ὁ γίγνομαι ὁ πρόβατον ἐγώ εἰς προνομή καί γίγνομαι ὁ πρόβατον ἐγώ εἰς κατάβρωμα πᾶς ὁ θηρίον ὁ πεδίον παρά ὁ μή εἰμί ποιμήν καί οὐ ἐκζητέω ὁ ποιμήν ὁ πρόβατον ἐγώ καί βόσκω ὁ ποιμήν ἑαυτοῦ ὁ δέ πρόβατον ἐγώ οὐ βόσκω

As I live, says the Lord God, surely because my sheep became a prey, and my sheep became meat to all the wild beasts of the field, because there were no shepherds, and the shepherds sought not out my sheep, and the shepherds fed themselves, but fed not my sheep.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Targum (Aramaic paraphrase)

The Targum is the ancient Jewish Aramaic paraphrase of the Hebrew Scriptures — an interpretive translation, not the Hebrew text itself. Onkelos (literal) and Pseudo-Jonathan (expansive) render the Torah, and Jonathan the Prophets. Coverage is partial: where no permissively-licensed English translation exists for a verse, only the Aramaic is shown. This is verse-level text, not a word-by-word alignment to the Hebrew.

Targum Jonathan Prophets (Joshua–Malachi)

קַיָם אֲנָא אֲמַר יְיָ אֱלֹהִים אִם לָא חֲלַף דַהֲווֹ עַמִי לְבִזָא וְאִתְמְסַרוּ עַמִי לְאִשְׁתֵּיצָאָה לְכָל מַלְכְּוַת עַמְמַיָא מִבְּלִי פַּרְנָס וְלָא תְבָעוּ פַּרְנָסַיָא יַת עַמִי וּפַרְנִיסוּ פַּרְנָסַיָא יַת נַפְשֵׁיהוֹן וְיַת עַמִי לָא פַרְנִיסוּ:

(no public-domain English translation for this verse)

Targum Jonathan — Aramaic: “Mikraot Gedolot” (public domain). English: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “London "Chaldee Paraphrase," 1871” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.

Commentary

Notes on Ezekiel 34:8 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Eze 34:8 [As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because [there was] no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;

Ver. 8. As I live, saith the Lord, surely because,] {a} God here seemeth to be in a great heat, in a perturbation of spirit, causing a kind of impediment in his speech, so thoroughly was he moved against these lewd shepherds, whose faults he rippeth up again to make better way to their sentence.

Because my flock became a prey.] To the Chaldees, but especially to that old man slayer.

Because there was no shepherd.] None but a company of nominals, or rather nullities.

{a} Hyperbaton aetiologicum.

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.

John Gill's Exposition

Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the Lord. This is repeated, that it might be observed, and for the confirmation of it; it might be depended upon that what follows would be accomplished, unless they changed their conduct and behaviour; and, to leave them inexcusable, they are again called upon to hear what the Lord should say unto them. The Targum is,

"therefore, O ye wicked governors, return to the law, and I will have mercy on you; hearken to the doctrine of the law, and receive the word of the Lord.''

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

No shepherd. Pastors who seek only their temporal advantage, (1 Timothy vi. 5., and Titus i. 7.; Haydock) are hirelings; and if they teach false doctrine, they are wolves, John x. (Worthington)

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).

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

See Eze 34:2,3,5,6.

My shepherds: government governors are by God’s appointment, and here he owns the careless, worst of rulers as his shepherds.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

and the shepherds shepherded themselves [Heb. אוֹתָם, lit. them.]

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Ezekiel, in the Prophets, opens this verse with 31 words (18 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is ʼoklâh (“food”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

The word ʼoklâh carries the sense “food.” How does it shape the verse?
Genesis 1:29 shares the word «food» with this verse. How do the two illuminate each other?
“to shepherd” occurs 5× in this one verse. What is the effect of the repetition?
These translations render this verse differently. What is at stake in choosing one wording over another?
The verb «הֱיֽוֹת» is Qal Infinitive Construct. How does its form color the action?
Reading how Trapp's Complete Commentary and John Gill's Exposition read this verse, where do the two commentators agree and where do they part?

Things to notice

This verse counts 31 Hebrew ↔ 51 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 32 words in this verse.
“to shepherd” occurs 5× in this single verse.
18 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 31 words in this verse.