Bible Strands
Jeremiah 25:36
Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The prophet speaks on behalf of the LORD to Judah and Jerusalem during a period of imminent national collapse. The address targets the nation's spiritual and political authorities, who are metaphorically designated as shepherds and flock leaders.
The words — The verse centers on שֹׁדֵד (sho.Ded), meaning "destroying" or "desolating," and צַעֲקַת (tza.'a.Kat), meaning "cry of distress." These terms directly link the leaders' panic to the active dismantling of their divinely entrusted domain.
The thread — The same weeping shepherds and scattered flock imagery appears in Jeremiah 25:34 and 25:35, while the theme of unrelenting divine anger is echoed in Jeremiah 4:8. The passage consistently frames national disaster as the direct consequence of leadership failure under judgment.
Why it lands — The text requires readers to accept that institutional authority provides no immunity from divine judgment. It demands a clear-eyed recognition that the collapse of a community's leadership directly produces its physical and social ruin.
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
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and an howling of the principal of the flock, shall be heard: for the Lord hath spoiled their pasture.
Cross-references
- Jeremiah 4:8 So put on sackcloth, mourn and wail, for the fierce anger of the LORD has not turned away from us.”
- Jeremiah 25:34 Wail, you shepherds, and cry out; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For the days of your slaughter have come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery.