Jeremiah 10:21

21 For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the Lord.^[a] Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.

Jeremiah 10:21 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 10:21

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" ^F2; 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:

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (wlykvh al) "non egerunt prudenter", Vatablus, Tigurine version; "non intellexerunt", Pagninus, Montanus.

Jeremiah 10:21 In-Context

19 Woe to me because of my brokenness- I am severely wounded! I exclaimed, "This is my intense suffering, but I must bear it."

20 My tent is destroyed; all my tent cords are snapped. My sons have departed from me and are no more. [I have] no one to pitch my tent again or to hang up my curtains.

21 For the shepherds are stupid: they don't seek the Lord. Therefore they have not prospered, and their whole flock is scattered.

22 Listen! A noise-it is coming- a great commotion from the land to the north. The cities of Judah will be made desolate, a jackals' den.

23 I know, Lord, that a man's way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.

Footnotes

• [a] 2 Ch 16:12; Isa 9:13; 31:1