Jeremiah 23:1

New Living Translation

"What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for," says the Lord .

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” This is the Lord’s declaration.

Hebrew Names Version
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.

King James Version
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the Lord .

English Standard Version
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" declares the Lord .

New American Standard Bible
"Woe to the shepherds who are causing the sheep of My pasture to perish and are scattering them!" declares the LORD.

New Century Version
"How terrible it will be for the leaders of Judah, who are scattering and destroying my people," says the Lord .

Amplified Bible
"Woe to the shepherds (civil leaders, rulers) who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD.

World English Bible
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Wo be vnto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheepe of my pasture, saith the Lorde.

Legacy Standard Bible
"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares Yahweh.

Berean Standard Bible
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" declares the LORD.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord said: You leaders of my people are like shepherds that kill and scatter the sheep.

Complete Jewish Bible
"Oh no! The shepherds are destroying and scattering the sheep in my pasture!" says Adonai .

Darby Translation
Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith Jehovah.

Easy-to-Read Version
"It will be very bad for the shepherds of the people of Judah. They are destroying the sheep. They are making the sheep run from my pasture in all directions." This message is from the Lord .

George Lamsa Translation
WOE to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the LORD.

Good News Translation
How terrible will be the Lord 's judgment on those rulers who destroy and scatter his people!

Lexham English Bible
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the flock of my pasture," declares Yahweh.

Literal Translation
Woe to shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture, says Jehovah.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Wo be vnto the shepherdes, that destroye, and scatre my flocke, saieth the LORDE.

American Standard Version
Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith Jehovah.

Bible in Basic English
A curse is on the keepers who are causing the destruction and loss of the sheep of my field, says the Lord.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture! saith the LORD.

King James Version (1611)
Woe bee vnto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheepe of my pasture, saith the Lord.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Wo vnto the shepheardes that destroy and scatter my flocke, saith the Lorde.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Woe to the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of their pasture!

English Revised Version
Woe unto the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Wo to the scheepherdis, that scateren and to-drawen the floc of my lesewe, seith the Lord.

Update Bible Version
Woe to the shepherds that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says Yahweh.

Webster's Bible Translation
Woe be to the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.

New English Translation
The Lord says, "The leaders of my people are sure to be judged. They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered.

New King James Version
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of My pasture!" says the LORD.

New Life Bible
"It is bad for the shepherds who are destroying and dividing the sheep of My field!" says the Lord.

New Revised Standard
Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! says the Lord .

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Alas for the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture Declareth Yahweh.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Woe to the pastors, that destroy and tear the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord.

Revised Standard Version
"Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!" says the LORD.

Young's Literal Translation
Wo to shepherds destroying, And scattering the flock of My pasture, An affirmation of Jehovah.

THE MESSAGE
"Doom to the shepherd-leaders who butcher and scatter my sheep!" God 's Decree. "So here is what I, God , Israel's God, say to the shepherd-leaders who misled my people: ‘You've scattered my sheep. You've driven them off. You haven't kept your eye on them. Well, let me tell you, I'm keeping my eye on you, keeping track of your criminal behavior. I'll take over and gather what's left of my sheep, gather them in from all the lands where I've driven them. I'll bring them back where they belong, and they'll recover and flourish. I'll set shepherd-leaders over them who will take good care of them. They won't live in fear or panic anymore. All the lost sheep rounded up!' God 's Decree."

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!" declares the LORD.

Contextual Overview

¹ "What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for," says the Lord . ² Therefore, this is what the Lord , the God of Israel, says to these shepherds: "Instead of caring for my flock and leading them to safety, you have deserted them and driven them to destruction. Now I will pour out judgment on you for the evil you have done to them. ³ But I will gather together the remnant of my flock from the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their own sheepfold, and they will be fruitful and increase in number. ⁴ Then I will appoint responsible shepherds who will care for them, and they will never be afraid again. Not a single one will be lost or missing. I, the Lord , have spoken! ⁵ "For the time is coming," says the Lord , "when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David's line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. ⁶ And this will be his name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.' In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety. ⁷ "In that day," says the Lord , "when people are taking an oath, they will no longer say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who rescued the people of Israel from the land of Egypt.' ⁸ Instead, they will say, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, who brought the people of Israel back to their own land from the land of the north and from all the countries to which he had exiled them.' Then they will live in their own land."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Woe: Jeremiah 2:8, Jeremiah 2:26, Ezekiel 13:3, Ezekiel 34:2, Zechariah 11:17, Matthew 23:13-29, Luke 11:42-52

pastors: Jeremiah 23:2, Jeremiah 23:11-15, Jeremiah 2:8, Jeremiah 10:21, Jeremiah 12:10, Jeremiah 22:22, Jeremiah 25:34-36, Jeremiah 50:6, Isaiah 56:9-12, Ezekiel 22:25-29, Ezekiel 34:2-10, Ezekiel 34:21, Micah 3:11, Micah 3:12, Zephaniah 3:3, Zephaniah 3:4, Zechariah 11:5-7, Zechariah 11:15-17, Matthew 9:36, Matthew 15:14, John 10:10, John 10:12

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 22:17 - as sheep 2 Chronicles 18:16 - as sheep Psalms 74:1 - the sheep Jeremiah 50:17 - a scattered Zechariah 10:3 - anger Acts 20:29 - not

Cross-References

Genesis 17:17
Then Abraham bowed down to the ground, but he laughed to himself in disbelief. "How could I become a father at the age of 100?" he thought. "And how can Sarah have a baby when she is ninety years old?"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Woe be unto the pastors,.... Or, "O ye shepherds" or "governors", as the Targum; the civil rulers and magistrates, kings and princes of the land of Israel; since ecclesiastical rulers, the priests and prophets, are mentioned as distinct from them in Jeremiah 23:9; whose business it was to rule and guide, protect and defend, the people: but, instead of that, they were such

that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, saith the Lord God; set them bad examples, led them into idolatry and other sins, which were the cause of their ruin, and of their being carried captive, and scattered in other countries; and their sin was the more aggravated, inasmuch as these people were the Lord's pasture sheep, whom he had an interest in, and a regard unto, and had committed them to the care and charge of these pastors or governors, to be particularly taken care of.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The pastors - shepherds, i. e., civil rulers Jeremiah 2:8.

The sheep of My pasture - literally, of My pasturing, the sheep of whom I am shepherd. The people do not belong to the rulers but to God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

CHAPTER XXIII

Sequel of the discourse which commenced in the preceding

chapter. The prophet denounces vengeance against the pastors of

Israel who have scattered and destroyed the flock of the Lord,

1, 2.

He concludes with gracious promises of deliverance from the

Babylonish captivity, and of better times under the Messiah,

when the converts to Christianity, who are the true Israel of

God, shadowed forth by the old dispensation, shall be

delivered, by the glorious light of the Gospel, from worse than

Chaldean bondage, from the captivity of sin and death. But this

prophecy will not have its fullest accomplishment till that

period arrives which is fixed in the Divine counsel for the

restoration of Israel and Judah from their various dispersions,

of which their deliverance from the Chaldean domination was a

type, when Jesus the Christ, the righteous Branch, the Root and

Offspring of David, and the only legitimate Heir to the throne,

shall take unto himself his great power, and reign gloriously

over the whole house of Jacob, 3-8.

At the ninth verse a new discourse commences. Jeremiah

expresses his horror at the great wickedness of the priests and

prophets of Judah, and declares that the Divine vengeance is

hanging over them. He exhorts the people not to listen to their

false promises, 9-22;

and predicts the utter ruin that shall fall upon all pretenders

to inspiration, 23-32,

as well as upon all scoffers at true prophecy, 33-40.

NOTES ON CHAP. XXIII

Verse Jeremiah 23:1. Wo be unto the pastors — There shall a curse fall on the kings, princes, priests, and prophets; who, by their vicious conduct and example, have brought desolation upon the people.