Flock, God's

God's people are frequently portrayed as a flock of sheep, for whom he cares with the tenderness and concern of a loving shepherd.

The divine shepherd

God portrayed as a shepherd

Psalm 23:1 See also Psalm 80:1

A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Jesus Christ portrayed as a shepherd

John 10:11 See also Matthew 26:31; Zechariah 13:7

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

God's people are his flock

Israel and Judah depicted as God's flock

Psalm 77:20 See also Psalm 78:52; Isaiah 63:11; Jeremiah 13:17, Jeremiah 31:10, Jeremiah 50:17; Micah 2:12, Micah 7:14

You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

NT believers depicted as God's flock

Acts 20:28 See also Luke 12:32; John 10:14–16

Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.

God cares for his flock

Isaiah 40:11 See also Psalm 95:6–7; Ezekiel 34:11–16; Micah 5:4; Zechariah 9:16

He tends His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart. He gently leads the nursing ewes.

God judges his flock

Ezekiel 34:17–24 See also Zechariah 11:7–16

This is what the Lord GOD says to you, My flock: ‘I will judge between one sheep and another, between the rams and the goats. Is it not enough for you to feed on the good pasture? Must you also trample the rest of the pasture with your feet? Is it not enough for you to drink the clear waters? Must you also muddy the rest with your feet? Why must My flock feed on what your feet have trampled, and drink what your feet have muddied?’ Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says to them: ‘Behold, I Myself will judge between the fat sheep and the lean sheep. Since you shove with flank and shoulder, butting all the weak ones with your horns until you have scattered them abroad, I will save My flock, and they will no longer be prey. I will judge between one sheep and another. I will appoint over them one shepherd, My servant David, and he will feed them. He will feed them and be their shepherd. I, the LORD, will be their God, and My servant David will be a prince among them. I, the LORD, have spoken.

The under-shepherds of the flock

Many of Israel's leaders exploited God's flock

Ezekiel 34:2–3 See also Jeremiah 10:21; Zechariah 11:4–5; John 10:12–13

“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel. Prophesy and tell them that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Woe to the shepherds of Israel, who only feed themselves! Should not the shepherds feed their flock? You eat the fat, wear the wool, and butcher the fattened sheep, but you do not feed the flock.

God will judge the corrupt shepherds

Ezekiel 34:7–10 See also Jeremiah 23:1–5, Jeremiah 25:34–36; Zechariah 10:3, Zechariah 11:17

Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, because My flock lacks a shepherd and has become prey and food for every wild beast, and because My shepherds did not search for My flock but fed themselves instead, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the LORD!’ This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Behold, I am against the shepherds, and I will demand from them My flock and remove them from tending the flock, so that they can no longer feed themselves. For I will deliver My flock from their mouths, and it will no longer be food for them.’

Church leaders are to care for God's flock

1 Peter 5:2–3 See also Acts 20:28–29

Be shepherds of God’s flock that is among you, watching over them not out of compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed, but out of eagerness; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.