Ezekiel 20:34-38

20:34 I will bring you out from the nations, and will gather you from the lands where you are scattered, with a powerful hand and an outstretched arm and with an outpouring of rage! 20:35 I will bring you into the wilderness of the nations, and there I will enter into judgment with you face to face. 20:36 Just as I entered into judgment with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so I will enter into judgment with you, declares the sovereign Lord. 20:37 I will make you pass under ¹  the shepherd’s staff, ²  and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant. 20:38 I will eliminate from among you the rebels and those who revolt ³  against me. I will bring them out from the land where they have been residing, but they will not come to the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord.

¹ tn This is the same Hebrew verb used to describe the passing of the children through the fire.

² sn The metaphor may be based in Lev 27:32 (see also Jer 33:13; Matt 25:32-33). A shepherd would count his sheep as they passed beneath his staff.

³ tn See the note at 2:3.