Jesus ¹  said ²  a third time, “Simon, son of John, do you love me?” Peter was distressed ³  that Jesus ⁴  asked ⁵  him a third time, “Do you love me?” and said, ⁶  “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.” Jesus ⁷  replied, ⁸  “Feed my sheep.

The Lord my God says this: “Shepherd the flock set aside for slaughter.

Like a shepherd he tends his flock; he gathers up the lambs with his arm; he carries them close to his heart; ¹  he leads the ewes along.

Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture, that you must trample the rest of your pastures with your feet? When you drink clean water, must you muddy the rest of the water by trampling it with your feet?

The womb ¹  forgets him, the worm feasts on him, no longer will he be remembered. Like a tree, wickedness will be broken down.

The Beloved to the Maidens: My beloved has gone down to his garden, ¹  to the flowerbeds of balsam spices, ²  to graze ³  in the gardens, and to gather lilies. ⁴ 

A cow and a bear will graze together, their young will lie down together. ¹  A lion, like an ox, will eat straw.

For the fortified city ¹  is left alone; it is a deserted settlement and abandoned like the desert. Calves ²  graze there; they lie down there and eat its branches bare. ³ 

Israel has rebelled ¹  like a stubborn heifer! Soon ²  the Lord will put them out to pasture like a lamb in a broad field! ³ 

So Abraham’s servant ¹  went to the house and unloaded ²  the camels. Straw and feed were given ³  to the camels, and water was provided so that he and the men who were with him could wash their feet. ⁴ 

So Laban asked, ¹  “What should I give you?” “You don’t need to give me a thing,” ²  Jacob replied, ³  “but if you agree to this one condition, ⁴  I will continue to care for ⁵  your flocks and protect them:

When one of them ¹  opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at their resting place, ²  he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. ³ 

The poor will graze in my pastures; ¹  the needy will rest securely. But I will kill your root by famine; it will put to death all your survivors. ² 

He said to me, “Son of man, feed your stomach and fill your belly with this scroll I am giving to you.” So I ate it, ¹  and it was sweet like honey in my mouth.

He issued a proclamation and said, ¹  “In Nineveh, by the decree of the king and his nobles: No human or animal, cattle or sheep, is to taste anything; they must not eat and they must not drink water.

The Israelites who remain ¹  will not act deceitfully. They will not lie, and a deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouth. Indeed, they will graze peacefully like sheep ²  and lie down; no one will terrify them.”

Deliver your people! Empower ¹  the nation that belongs to you! ²  Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms ³  at all times! ⁴ 

Trust in the Lord and do what is right! Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! ¹ 

Indeed, I am about to raise up a shepherd in the land who will not take heed to the sheep headed to slaughter, will not seek the scattered, and will not heal the injured. ¹  Moreover, he will not nourish the one that is healthy but instead will eat the meat of the fat sheep ²  and tear off their hooves.

He will assume his post ¹  and shepherd the people ²  by the Lord’s strength, by the sovereign authority of the Lord his God. ³  They will live securely, ⁴  for at that time he will be honored ⁵  even in the distant regions of ⁶  the earth.