Jeremiah 10:21

King James Version

For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord : therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
For the shepherds are stupid:They don’t seek the Lord.Therefore they have not prospered,and their whole flock is scattered.

Hebrew Names Version
For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

English Standard Version
For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord ; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

New American Standard Bible
For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.

New Century Version
The shepherds are stupid and don't ask the Lord for advice. So they do not have success, and all their flocks are scattered and lost.

Amplified Bible
For the shepherds [of the people] have become [like brutes,] irrational and stupid, And have not searched for the LORD or asked about Him or realized their need for Him; Therefore they have not been wise and have not prospered, And all their flocks are scattered.

World English Bible
For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Yahweh: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

Geneva Bible (1587)
For the Pastours are become beasts, and haue not sought the Lorde: therefore haue they none vnderstanding: and all the flockes of their pastures are scattered.

Legacy Standard Bible
For the shepherds have become senselessAnd have not sought Yahweh;Therefore they have not prospered,And all their flock is scattered.

Berean Standard Bible
For the shepherds have become senseless and do not seek the LORD. Therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

Contemporary English Version
But I told them, "Our leaders were stupid failures, because they refused to listen to the Lord . And so we've been scattered like sheep.

Complete Jewish Bible
The shepherds have become stupid, they have not consulted Adonai . This is why they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

Darby Translation
For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not sought Jehovah; therefore have they not acted wisely, and all their flock is scattered.

Easy-to-Read Version
The shepherds are stupid. They don't try to find the Lord . They are not wise, so their flocks are scattered and lost.

George Lamsa Translation
For the shepherds have misbehaved, and have not sought the LORD; and because they did not prosper, all of their flocks have been scattered.

Good News Translation
I answered, "Our leaders are stupid; they do not ask the Lord for guidance. This is why they have failed, and our people have been scattered.

Lexham English Bible
For the shepherds have become stupid, they do not seek Yahweh. Therefore they do not have insight, and all of their flock are scattered.

Literal Translation
For the pastors have become stupid, and they have not sought Jehovah. Therefore, they shall not be blessed, and all their flock shall be scattered.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
For the hyrdmen haue done folishly, that they haue not sought the LORDE. Therfore haue they dealt vnwisely with their catell, & all are scatred abrode.

American Standard Version
For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of Jehovah: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

Bible in Basic English
For the keepers of the sheep have become like beasts, not looking to the Lord for directions: so they have not done wisely and all their flocks have been put to flight.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

King James Version (1611)
For the Pastours are become brutish, and haue not sought the Lord: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flockes shall be scattered.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
For the heardmen are become foolishe, and they haue not sought the Lorde: therefore haue they dealt vnwisely with their cattell, and all are scattered abrode.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For the shepherds have become foolish, and have not sought the Lord; therefore the whole pasture has failed, and the sheep have been scattered.

English Revised Version
For the shepherds are become brutish, and have not inquired of the LORD: therefore they have not prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
For the scheepherdis diden folili, and souyten not the Lord; therfor thei vndurstoden not, and alle the flok of hem is scaterid.

Update Bible Version
For the shepherds have become brutish, and haven't inquired of Yahweh: therefore they haven't prospered, and all their flocks are scattered.

Webster's Bible Translation
For the pastors have become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.

New English Translation
For our leaders are stupid. They have not sought the Lord 's advice. So they do not act wisely, and the people they are responsible for have all been scattered.

New King James Version
For the shepherds have become dull-hearted, And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they shall not prosper, And all their flocks shall be scattered.

New Living Translation
The shepherds of my people have lost their senses. They no longer seek wisdom from the Lord . Therefore, they fail completely, and their flocks are scattered.

New Life Bible
For the shepherds are poor thinkers and have not asked for the Lord's help. So they have not done well, and all their flock is sent different places.

New Revised Standard
For the shepherds are stupid, and do not inquire of the Lord ; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
For the shepherds, have become brutish, And Yahweh, have they not sought, - For this cause, have they not prospered, And, all their flock, is scattered.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Because the pastors have done foolishly, and have not sought the Lord: therefore have they not understood, and all their flock is scattered.

Revised Standard Version
For the shepherds are stupid, and do not inquire of the LORD; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered.

Young's Literal Translation
For the shepherds have become brutish, And Jehovah they have not sought, Therefore they have not acted wisely, And all their flock is scattered.

THE MESSAGE
It's because our leaders are stupid. They never asked God for counsel, And so nothing worked right. The people are scattered all over.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
For the shepherds have become stupid And have not sought the LORD; Therefore they have not prospered, And all their flock is scattered.

Contextual Overview

¹⁷ Gather up thy wares out of the land, O inhabitant of the fortress. ¹⁸ For thus saith the Lord , Behold, I will sling out the inhabitants of the land at this once, and will distress them, that they may find it so. ¹⁹ Woe is me for my hurt! my wound is grievous; but I said, Truly this is a grief, and I must bear it. ²⁰ My tabernacle is spoiled, and all my cords are broken: my children are gone forth of me, and they are not: there is none to stretch forth my tent any more, and to set up my curtains. ²¹ For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord : therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered. ²² Behold, the noise of the bruit is come, and a great commotion out of the north country, to make the cities of Judah desolate, and a den of dragons. ²³ O Lord , I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. ²⁴ O Lord , correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing. ²⁵ Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not on thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the pastors: Jeremiah 10:8, Jeremiah 10:14, Jeremiah 2:8, Jeremiah 5:31, Jeremiah 8:9, Jeremiah 12:10, Jeremiah 23:9-32, Isaiah 56:10-12, Ezekiel 22:25-30, Ezekiel 34:2-10, John 10:12, John 10:13, Zechariah 10:3

their: Jeremiah 23:1, Jeremiah 49:32, Jeremiah 50:17, Ezekiel 34:5, Ezekiel 34:6, Ezekiel 34:12, Zechariah 13:7

Reciprocal: Isaiah 19:11 - brutish Jeremiah 22:22 - thy pastors Jeremiah 50:6 - their shepherds 2 Peter 2:12 - as natural

Cross-References

Genesis 10:10
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

Genesis 10:26
And Joktan begat Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

Numbers 24:24
And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim, and shall afflict Asshur, and shall afflict Eber, and he also shall perish for ever.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

For the pastors are become brutish,.... The "kings" of Judah, so the Targum, Jarchi, and Kimchi, as Jehoiakim and Zedekiah; though it need not be restrained to these only, but may include all inferior civil magistrates, and even all ecclesiastical rulers, who were the shepherds of the people; but these being like the brute beasts, and without understanding of civil and religious things, and not knowing how to govern the people either in a political or ecclesiastical way, were the cause of their ruin.

And have not sought the Lord; this is an instance of their brutishness and stupidity, and opens the source of all their mistakes and misfortunes; they did not seek the Lord for counsel, by whom kings reign well, and princes decree justice; nor doctrine from the Lord, as the Targum, as the priests and prophets should have done, in order to instruct the people, and feed them with knowledge and understanding; nor did either of them seek the glory of God in what they did, but their own interest, worldly advantage, or applause:

therefore they shall not prosper; in their kingdom, and in the several offices and stations in which they were. Some render the words, "therefore they do not act prudently" b; not consulting the Lord, nor warning the people, nor giving them notice of approaching danger:

and all their flocks shall be scattered; the people of the Jews that were under their government, civil or ecclesiastical, should be dispersed in several nations, and especially in Chaldee; wherefore it follows:

b לא השכילו "non egerunt prudenter", Vatablus, Tigurine version; "non intellexerunt", Pagninus, Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The lamentation of the daughter of Zion, the Jewish Church, at the devastation of the land, and her humble prayer to God for mercy.

Jeremiah 10:19

Grievous - Rather, “mortal,” i. e., fatal, incurable.

A grief - Or, “my grief.”

Jeremiah 10:20

tabernacle - i. e., “tent.” Jerusalem laments that her tent is plundered and her children carried into exile, and so “are not,” are dead Matthew 2:18, either absolutely, or dead to her in the remote land of their captivity. They can aid the widowed mother no longer in pitching her tent, or in hanging up the curtains round about it.

Jeremiah 10:21

Therefore they shall not prosper - Rather, “therefore they have not governed wisely.” “The pastors,” i. e., the kings and rulers Jeremiah 2:8, having sunk to the condition of barbarous and untutored men, could not govern wisely.

Jeremiah 10:22

The “great commotion” is the confused noise of the army on its march (see Jeremiah 8:16).

Dragons - i. e., jackals; see the marginal reference.

Jeremiah 10:23

At the rumour of the enemy’s approach Jeremiah utters in the name of the nation a supplication appropriate to men overtaken by the divine justice.

Jeremiah 10:24

With judgment - In Jeremiah 30:11; Jeremiah 46:28, the word “judgment” (with a different preposition) is rendered “in measure.” The contrast therefore is between punishment inflicted in anger, and that inflicted as a duty of justice, of which the object is the criminal’s reformation. Jeremiah prays that God would punish Jacob so far only as would bring him to true repentance, but that he would pour forth his anger upon the pagan, as upon that which opposes itself to God Jeremiah 10:25.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 10:21. The pastors are become brutish — The king and his counsellors, who, by refusing to pay the promised tribute to Nebuchadnezzar, had kindled a new war.