A reading from the book of the prophet Ezekiel. Thus says the Lord God, I myself will look after and tend my sheep.

As the shepherd tends his flock, when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep.

I will rescue them from every place where they are scattered when it was cloudy and dark.

I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands.

I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel,

in the land's ravines in all its inhabited places. In good pastures, I will pasture them,

and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing ground. There they shall lie down on good grazing ground, and in rich pastures

shall they be pastured on the mountains of Israel. I myself will pasture my sheep. I myself will give them

rest, says the Lord God.

The lost I will seek out.

The strayed, I will bring back.

The injured I will bind up.

The sick I will heal.

But the sleek and the strong I will destroy,

shepherding them rightly.

The word of the Lord.

The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

The Lord is my shepherd, there is nothing I shall want.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. In verdant pastures,

he gives me repose. Besides restful waters, he leads me. He refreshes my soul. The Lord is my shepherd.

There is nothing I shall want. He guides me in right paths for his namesake. Even though I walk in the dark valley,

I fear no evil, for you are at my side, with your rod and your staff that give me courage.

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