My people were lost sheep; their shepherds led them astray, guiding them the wrong way in the mountains. They wandered from mountain to hill; they forgot their resting place.
Paul and Barnabas boldly replied, ‘It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first. Since you reject it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, we are turning to the Gentiles.
My flock went astray on all the mountains and every high hill. My flock was scattered over the whole face of the earth, and there was no one searching or seeking for them.
‘See to it that you don’t despise one of these little ones, because I tell you that in heaven their angels continually view the face of my Father in heaven. ,
As I live #– #this is the declaration of the Lord God #– #because my flock, lacking a shepherd, has become prey and food for every wild animal, and because my shepherds do not search for my flock, and because the shepherds feed themselves rather than my flock,
Instead, I preached to those in Damascus first, and to those in Jerusalem and in all the region of Judea, and to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works worthy of repentance.
When they resisted and blasphemed, he shook out his clothes and told them, ‘Your blood is on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’
I will seek the lost, bring back the strays, bandage the injured, and strengthen the weak, but I will destroy the fat and the strong. I will shepherd them with justice.
Israel is a stray lamb, chased by lions. The first who devoured him was the king of Assyria; the last who crushed his bones was King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
You have not strengthened the weak, healed the ill, bandaged the injured, brought back the strays, or sought the lost. Instead, you have ruled them with violence and cruelty.
