Bible Strands
Jeremiah 25:35
Flight will evade the shepherds, and escape will elude the leaders of the flock.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Jeremiah pronounces this oracle against Judah and Jerusalem during a period of impending national collapse. He addresses the political and religious authorities, specifically the shepherds and leaders of the flock, as their appointed time of slaughter arrives.
The words — The Hebrew מָנוֹס (ma.nos) denotes a place of refuge, while פְלֵיטָה (pe.li.tah) refers to the act of fleeing or surviving. Paired with אָבַד (a.vad), meaning to perish or be lost, these terms stress the complete failure of the leaders to find safety.
The thread — The motif of failed escape recurs in Job 11:20, where the wicked find no refuge, and Amos 2:14, where neither the swift nor the strong can avoid judgment. Isaiah 2:12 extends this pattern by describing the Day of the Lord as the force that humbles all who are proud and exalted.
Why it lands — The text establishes that human authority cannot avert divine judgment. It requires readers to abandon reliance on political or religious power and acknowledge that God alone controls the fate of nations.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the shepherds shall have no way to flee, nor the principal of the flock to escape.
Cross-references
- Job 11:20 But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
- Amos 2:14 Escape will fail the swift, the strong will not prevail by his strength, and the mighty will not save his life.
- Isaiah 2:12 For the Day of the LORD of Hosts will come against all the proud and lofty, against all that is exalted—it will be humbled—
- Isaiah 24:21 In that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven above and the kings of the earth below.
- Jeremiah 32:4 Zedekiah king of Judah will not escape from the hands of the Chaldeans, but he will surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, and will speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye.
- Jeremiah 34:3 And you yourself will not escape his grasp, but will surely be captured and delivered into his hand. You will see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face; and you will go to Babylon.
- Jeremiah 38:18 But if you do not surrender to the officers of the king of Babylon, then this city will be delivered into the hands of the Chaldeans. They will burn it down, and you yourself will not escape their grasp.’”
- Jeremiah 38:23 All your wives and children will be brought out to the Chaldeans. And you yourself will not escape their grasp, for you will be seized by the king of Babylon, and this city will be burned down.”
- Jeremiah 48:44 “Whoever flees the panic will fall into the pit, and whoever climbs from the pit will be caught in the snare. For I will bring upon Moab the year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
- Jeremiah 52:8 but the army of the Chaldeans pursued the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho, and his whole army deserted him.