Jeremias 12:10

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my portion, they have made my desirable portion a trackless wilderness;

Jeremias 12:10 Meaning and Commentary

Jeremiah 12:10

Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard
This is a metaphor which is often used of the people of Israel and Judah; see ( Psalms 80:8 ) ( Isaiah 5:1-7 ) ( 27:2 ) , the pastors that destroyed them are not their own governors, civil or religious, but Heathen princes, Nebuchadnezzar and his generals. So the Targum paraphrases it,

``many kings slay my people;''

so Kimchi and Ben Melech. They have trodden my portion under foot;
the people of the Jews, that were his portion, and before called his heritage; whom the Chaldeans subdued, and reduced to extreme servitude and bondage; and were as the dirt under their feet, greatly oppressed and despised. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness;
by pulling down stately edifices, unwalling of towers, and destroying men; so that there were none to manure the fields, to dress the vineyards, and keep gardens and orchards in good case; but all were come to ruin and what before was a delightful paradise was now like an heath or desert.

Jeremias 12:10 In-Context

8 My inheritance has become to me as a lion in a forest; she has uttered her voice against me; therefore have I hated her.

9 Is not my inheritance to me a hyaena's cave, or a cave round about her? Go ye, gather together all the wild beasts of the field, and let them come to devour her.

10 Many shepherds have destroyed my vineyard, they have defiled my portion, they have made my desirable portion a trackless wilderness;

11 it is made a complete ruin: for my sake the whole land has been utterly ruined, because there is none that lays to heart.

12 The ravagers are come to every passage in the wilderness: for the sword of the Lord will devour from one end of the land to the other: no flesh has any peace.