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.