Jeremiah 25:36 · Bible study
Jeremiah 25:36 Commentary: The Shepherds' Cry and Destroyed Pasture
Hebrew · 8 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
What does the 'pasture' represent in Jeremiah 25:36? This study examines the metaphor of shepherds and pasture in God's judgment against unfaithful leaders.
Research Summary
- Meaning: The cry of unfaithful leaders arises because God has destroyed the people and land they relied on.
- Key words: 'shepherds' (leaders), 'pasture' (people/land), 'destroying' (participle emphasizing certainty).
- Main debate: Whether the shepherds are leaders of Judah only or rulers of all nations being judged.
- Theological theme: God holds leaders accountable for their stewardship, and He alone is the ultimate source of security.
- Best use: A sobering warning against misplaced trust in human leadership and systems, calling for dependence on God.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture.
WEB World English Bible 2000
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the leader of the flock, for Yahweh destroys their pasture.
KJV King James Version 1769
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.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and the wailing of the principal of the flock! for Jehovah layeth waste their pasture.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
A voice is of the cry of the shepherds, And a howling of the honourable of the flock, For Jehovah is spoiling their pasture.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
There shall be a voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the noble ones of the flock: for Jehovah layeth waste their pasture;
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
A voice of the cry of the shepherds, and a howling of the principal of the flock: because the Lord hath wasted their pastures.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
¡ Voz de la grita de los pastores, y aullido de los mayorales del rebaño! porque Jehová asoló sus majadas.
Haverá voz do grito dos pastores, e uivo dos lideres do rebanho; porque o SENHOR assolou os seus pastos.
On entend les cris des pasteurs,
Da werden die Hirten schreien, und die Gewaltigen über die Herde werden heulen, daß der HERR ihre Weide so verwüstet hat
Er zal zijn een stem des geroeps der herderen, en een gehuil der heerlijken van de kudde, omdat de HEERE hun weide verstoort.
S’ode il grido de’ pastori e l’urlo delle guide del gregge; poiché l’Eterno devasta il loro pascolo;
Głos wołania pasterzy, i narzekanie najzacniejszych tej trzody słychać będzie; bo Pan spustoszy pastwiska ich.
Слышен вопль пастырей и рыдание вождей стада, ибо опустошил Господь пажить их.
聽啊，有牧人 呼喊，有群眾 頭目 哀號 的聲音，因為 耶和華 使 他們的草場 變為荒場。
A sound of the cry of the keepers of sheep, and the bitter crying of the chiefs of the flock! for the Lord has made waste their green fields.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Jeremiah 25:36
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that the shepherds represent Israel's leaders, kings, nobles, priests, and the pasture stands for the people and land they were called to care for. Calvin notes that by 'pastures' God means 'the community, the people, in the city and in the country,' a view supported by the Targum's paraphrase, 'the Lord hath destroyed their people.' Gill likewise takes the pasture as 'their kingdoms, provinces, cities, and towns' and stresses that God 'suffered it to be done, yea, ordered it to be done, as a punishment for their sins.' Barnes observes that the participle shoded ('destroying') is a present tense, describing the certainty of the act. The cry and wailing are not the leaders' lament for their own suffering alone; they are the sound of those who have lost everything they relied on, because God has stripped away the source of their power and security.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Leaders of Judah only: The immediate context of Jeremiah 25:2–3 addresses Judah, and the shepherd imagery earlier in Jeremiah targets Israel's leaders (2:8, 23:1).
- Rulers of all nations: The surrounding verses (25:30–33) describe a worldwide judgment, and the 'pasture' could represent all peoples being judged for wickedness.
What is clear: The cry and wailing of the shepherds are caused by God's destruction of their pasture—the loss of the people and land they depended on.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Identity of the shepherds | The shepherds are leaders of God's people, kings, nobles, priests, and officials responsible for guidance and care. | Some interpreters (e.g., Targum, Gill) restrict this to rulers of Judah; others (Keil, Calvin) see it as encompassing all nations being judged, since the context (Jer 25:30, 38) is universal. |
| What the pasture represents | The pasture symbolises the people, land, and resources that sustain the leaders and the community. | Calvin and the Targum emphasize the people; Gill includes cities and provinces; this distinction affects whether the destruction is primarily demographic or geographical. |
| The nature of God's action | God is the direct cause: He destroys the pasture as an act of judgment for covenant unfaithfulness. | Some (Gill) stress that God permits and orders the destruction through human agents (Babylon); others (Calvin) highlight God's immediate sovereignty, making the pasture's ruin a direct divine act. |
| Universality of the judgment | The judgment described is severe and extensive, involving widespread desolation. | Does this passage foretell a specific historical event (Babylon's conquest of Judah) or an eschatological judgment on all nations? Cambridge Bible notes 'serious doubts upon the genuineness of the passage' as eschatological, but most interpreters see a local-historical core. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Jeremiah 25 is dated to the fourth year of Jehoiakim (605 BC), when Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar was rising to world dominance. The chapter opens with a summary of Jeremiah’s twenty-three years of preaching (v.3), then presents the vision of the cup of the Lord’s wrath that all nations must drink. Verses 30, 38 expand on that judgment with a storm and slaughter imagery, closing with a focus on the leaders addressed as shepherds.
The metaphor of shepherds for rulers was deeply rooted in ancient Near Eastern culture. Kings were expected to provide, protect, and guide their people like shepherds. Jeremiah himself had used the image earlier (2:8; 23:1, 4), and Ezekiel would develop it at length (ch.34). Here the portrait is reversed: the shepherds are helpless, their pasture, the fertile land and the people it sustains, is being devastated by Yahweh Himself. The language of roaring (v.30) echoes Amos 1:2 and Joel 3:16, but Jeremiah shifts the roar from Zion to heaven, indicating judgment even against the theocracy itself (Keil & Delitzsch). The peaceful folds (v.37) fall silent not because of enemy action alone, but because of the fierce anger of the Lord. This is not merely a foreign invasion; it is divine judgment executed through human agency.
Textual Notes
The supplied sources note no significant textual variants for Jeremiah 25:36. The verse is consistent across the Masoretic Text and ancient versions (LXX, Targum, Syriac). The main interpretive variation lies not in the text itself but in the referent of the imagery.
Reception History
Christian tradition has consistently read this verse as a warning to unfaithful shepherds, applying it to bishops, pastors, and civil rulers who neglect their charge. The metaphor of the destroyed pasture resonated with Reformers like Calvin and Matthew Henry, who saw in it God's judgment against leaders who exploited the flock. In Jewish interpretation, the Targum rendered 'pasture' as 'their people,' linking the verse to the exile. The verse has also been used in homiletic contexts to comfort those who suffer under corrupt leadership, reminding them that God sees and acts. While not a central proof-text, it reinforces the biblical theme that stewardship is a sacred trust, and those who fail will be called to account.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The identity of the shepherds. The text addresses ‘shepherds’ and ‘the leader of the flock’, terms that consistently refer to rulers, nobles, and priests responsible for God’s people (cf. Jer 23:1, 4; Ezek 34). Their cry and wailing are the sound of leaders who have failed in their charge.
- The destruction of the pasture. The pasture is the land, the people, the resources that sustained the leaders. God ‘destroys’ it, the Hebrew participle shoded conveys ongoing, certain action. The leaders’ security is removed because the source of their power is cut off.
- The cause of the judgment. God is the one who lays waste (v.36). This is not random disaster; it is the consequence of covenant unfaithfulness (ch.25:3, 7). The shepherds’ cry is the sound of judgement arriving.
Five-point outline
- Call to hear the cry (v.36a)
- The lament of the leaders (v.36b)
- The divine destroyer (v.36c)
- The silence of the peaceful pastures (v.37)
- The lion-like departure of God (v.38)
Illustration hooks
- A farmer who pours effort into a field only to see it ruined by hail, the loss is total, and he has no defence.
- A CEO who loses the company because the market collapsed; the board and employees are still there, but the infrastructure is gone.
- A pastor who watches a congregation scatter after a crisis; the flock he tried to lead is no longer present to be led.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Does this mean God still judges nations and leaders today?
- How do we distinguish between God's judgment and ordinary consequences of bad leadership?
- What hope is there when it feels like our 'pasture', our resources, safety, community, has been destroyed?
Leading a Discussion
Jeremiah 25:36 uses the familiar image of shepherds and flock to describe leaders who lose everything. The pasture is gone because God removed it. For small groups, this passage invites honest reflection on leadership, responsibility, and God’s sovereignty over the systems we trust.
Discussion questions
- In your own words, what scene is Jeremiah 25:36 describing? Who is crying, and why?
- Based on the surrounding verses (vv.34, 38), what has the shepherd (leader) done to deserve this?
- Why does God target the 'pasture' instead of attacking the shepherds directly? What does that tell us about where our security lies?
- How does the metaphor of shepherds and pasture apply to modern leaders, in churches, governments, families?
- What are the 'pastures' in your own life that you might be tempted to trust in rather than in God?
- When have you seen a leader experience consequences because the community or resources they depended on fell apart? How did that change your view of leadership?
- In what ways does this passage point you back to God as the true shepherd who never abandons His flock (cf. Psalm 23, John 10)?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Jeremiah 4:8 | For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament and wail; for the fierce anger of Yahweh hasn’t turned back from us. |
| Jeremiah 25:34 | Wail, you shepherds, and cry. Wallow in dust, you leader of the flock; for the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have fully come, and you will fall like fine pottery. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
8 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes corrects the common translation "Wallow yourselves in the ashes" to "roll yourselves on the ground". He reads the next clause as "for your days for being slaughtered are accomplished, and I will scatter you (or dash you in pieces)". The comparison of falling like a pleasant vessel, he notes, suggests a change from a valuable thing into worthless fragments.
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin notes that the prophet intensifies the threat by extending it to the whole community. The "pastures" represent the people themselves, both in city and countryside. God's fierce anger will strip them of the fertile land and peaceful homes they once enjoyed.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
This commentary treats the passage as likely composed from borrowed material rather than original prophecy. The writer points to Oriental hyperbole and an eschatological framing that casts serious doubt on the passage's authenticity, and notes proposed textual rearrangements for metrical consistency.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
The Geneva note interprets the shepherds' cry and the howling of the flock's leaders as their lament over lost provision. The destruction of their pasture by the Lord leaves them without sustenance and security, showing that judgment strikes even those in positions of authority and guidance.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill notes that the cry and howling of the shepherds and rulers is described as already happening because God's judgment is certain. The Lord spoiled their pastures by allowing or ordering the destruction as punishment for their sins, keeping the shepherd and flock metaphor throughout.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil and Delitzsch argue that this passage does not describe a separate judgment on the world distinct from the one in the preceding verses. Instead it expands on the nature of that same judgment, now depicted as coming directly from heaven rather than from Zion, because even the earthly sanctuary is itself subject to God's wrath.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange treats Jeremiah 25 as the prophet's central programme, the first time he names Nebuchadnezzar and gives a precise date. He reads the chapter as a three-stage judgment: on Judah, on the surrounding nations through Babylon, and finally on Babylon itself and the whole world. The victory at Carchemish is the historical turning point that gives the prophecy its concrete definiteness.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry emphasizes that God’s judgment roars like a lion from heaven, leaving no one safe. He pictures a universal storm sweeping from nation to nation, with leaders unable to flee and bodies left unburied. The desolation is total because God himself has abandoned his sheltering place.