Verses 3-4 list the ways in which the shepherds were mistreating the sheep.

You eat the fat means they eat the best, meatiest portions of the sheep. Many translations see a problem with the word fat, because it seems to say the same thing as the third item on the list (you slaughter the fatlings), namely, it involves killing and eating the sheep. They prefer to change the vowels of the Hebrew word for fat, so that it reads “milk” (Good News Translation, Contemporary English Version, New Living Translation, Revised English Bible, Jerusalem Bible/New Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Christian Community Bible, Moffatt, Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch, Septuagint). The verb eat does not fit well with “milk,” so some translations believe it refers to milk products, such as “cheese,” “curds” (New International Version, New Century Version), or “butter” (New International Reader’s Version). This interpretation of “milk” makes very good sense and is recommended by Hebrew Old Testament Text Project, so translators may follow it if they choose. But it does not fit so well with the overall picture here, since shepherds were normally allowed to consume the milk and milk products of the flocks they tended (see Block). The fat, on the other hand, was set aside in the Law of Moses for God (see Lev 3.16; 7.23-25), so it fits very well the idea that the leaders were taking for themselves what was God’s alone. We recommend that translators retain the reference to fat.

You clothe yourselves with the wool means they cut off the wool of the sheep to make clothes for themselves to wear. Many languages render wool as “hair of sheep” (see 27.18). This clause may be rendered “You make clothes for yourselves from the hair of the sheep.”

You slaughter the fatlings means they kill and eat the fat, healthy sheep.

Some commentators see this list as unusual because killing and eating the sheep and using their wool for clothing are things that a shepherd naturally does. That is why shepherds keep sheep! They then argue that, in this case, which is a picture of the leaders’ treatment of the people of Israel, these natural actions are actually robbery, exploitation, and murder of the sheep. However, it is more likely that these actions are not the normal activity of shepherds, but rather, it is the owner who has the right to eat the fat, to make clothes from the wool, and to kill and eat the fatlings. Thus God, as the owner of the people of Israel, is charging the leaders of Israel with taking what belongs only to him.

But you do not feed the sheep: Not only are the leaders infringing on God’s rights, they are not even doing their job properly. Feed may be rendered “take care of,” as in the previous verse (see the comments there).

Quoted with permission from Gross, Carl & Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on Ezekiel. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .